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History 



OF 



Southwest Virginia, 

. 1 746- 1 786, 

Washington County, 

1777-1870. 



BY 

LEWIS PRESTON SUMMERS, 

OF THE 

ABINGDON BAR, 

Alumnus of the University of Virginia, and of Tulane University, 

Louisiana, and Member of the Virginia 

Historical Society. 



Richmond, Va. : 

J. L. Hill printing Company, 

1903. 






COPYEIGHT 1903 
BY 

LEWIS PRESTON SUMMEES. 



'i u ^* - ^ ^^ 



This Book is dedicated to the memory 
of the first settlers of Southwest Virginia, 
whose enterprise conquered her domain 
and whose love of freedom and valor in 
defending their rights have given to their 
posterity the blessings of civil and relig- 
ious liberty. 



ERKATA. 

«)n pages 18 and o9 the motto ou tho Golden Horseshoe presented by (ioveriKjr 
Spotswood to his comrades in the expedition across tlie Blue Ridge Mountains is 
ifiven as, "Sic Jurat transcendere montes." (Thus he swears to cross tlie mountains.) 
I am aware that some autliorities state the motto was, "Sicjuvat transcendere 
montes." (Thus it delights (us) to cross the mountains.) 

On page 18, last line, instead of "countries" read "two counties." 

On page 31, line 14, read "other" between words "the" and "Indians." 

On page 53, line 5, instead of "settling" read "setting." 

On page')", line 11, instead of "Inglish" read " Inglis." 

On page 73, line 17, instead of "Judds' friend" read Judds Friend." 

On page 76, line 2, the word " Fountainbleau " should be " Fountainebleau." 

On page 93, lines 25 and 29, instead of " Cloud's Fort " read " Cloud's Ford." 

On page 114, line 3, instead of " Walden " read " Wallen." 

On page 143, line 4, instead of " Glass " read " Gass." 

Ou page 140, line 7, instead of "Bower" read "Bowyer." 

On page 148, line 18, instead of "Isaach " read " Isajic." 

On page 1()4, line 2, a period should appear after "Burgesses," followetl l)y a new 
paragraph. 

On page 184, line 7, instead of "county " read "country." 

On page 195, line 22, instead of " niarchandise" read " merchandise." 

On page 257, line fi, instead of "Washington Districts" read "Washington Dis- 
trict." 

On page 291, instead of "1,098.9" read "1,098." 

On page 292, line 26, instead of "ranli" read "ranks." 

« )n page 360, line 2, instead of " was " read " were." 

On page 361, line 11, instead of "citizens" read "citizen." 

On page 364, line 5, instead of "commissioners" read "commissioner." 

On page 367, line 4, instead of "Tranalleghany " read "Transalleghany." 

On page 369, line 0, instead of " Walliam " read " William." 

On page 370, line 6, instead of " bans " read " banns." 

On page 4*5, line 11, instead of "agents" read "agent.'' 

On page 448, line 14, instead of "A. S. A." read " U. S. A." 

On page 461, line 20, instead of "effecting" read "affecting," 

On page 46:5, line 15, instead of "effected " read "affected." 

On page 48«, line 14, instead of " Moline del Rey " read " Molino del Key." 

On page 502, line 1, instead of "receive" read "receives." 

On page 521, line 23, instead of "ordinance " read "ordnance." 

On page .522, line 1, insU'ad of " Cecill " read " Cecil." 

On page 571, line 9, instead of "Dupree" read "Dupre." 

On page 590, line 12, instead of "Hindley Harris" read " Findk-y Harris." 



INTRODUCTION. 

The writer is a native born son oi Southwest Virginia, and has 
always felt a great pride in his country, and since reaching ma- 
turity has been interested in the history of this section. 

In tlie schools Init little has been taught in regard to the his- 
tory of this portion of Virginia, as but a small part of its history 
has been pi'cscrved. Our historians have been citizens of Eastern 
\'ii'ginia or of other States; and while our people have been mak- 
ing liistorv from the earliest settlement, scarcely any effort has 
hcH'u made to jH'eserve it, and as a result other parts of our cO'Untry 
whose history has been preserved liave in many instances received 
credit tliai properly ])el(mgs to the people of this section of Vir- 
ginia, and being impressed with this fact, and prompted by a de- 
sire to preserve the past history of our people, he determined, a 
few years since, to collect the histoi-y of Southwest Virginia, in 
so far as it was possible, and to rescue the same from oblivion, and 
in doing this work he has given such time only as he could spare 
from his professional duties. 

If an apology is needed for his effort in thus attempting to pre- 
serve this history it will be found in the remark of Lord Macaulay, 
wherein he justly observed : "A people which takes no pride in the 
noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything 
worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants." 

There can be no question that this section of Virginia has been 
robbed of much of the honor due her for the early settlement of 
t1io vast extent of country to the west and south thereof, and 
tliat tlie nolih^ deeds of lier sons have been ascribed to others; and 
a knowledge of this fact has rendered necessary the preservation of 
tlie deeds of the worthy citizens that this section has produced, 
not only to gratify the pride of ovir citizens, but to remind them 
of the obligations tliey are under, and to supply them with exam- 
ples of patriotism which they may seek to emulate. 

Tlie writer feels his inability to properly perfoTni this task, but 
hopes that the gleanings he has gathered may suffice in some more 
skillful hands to weave for the founders and builders of our country 



8 Introductory. 

an enduring garland of glory, and he asks a kind indulgence of the 
reader for such errors, omissions, and imperfections as may be 
found in this work. 

In the words of Judge Haywood: "Let no one censure his mo- 
tives, foT they are pure. There will indeed be much room to blame 
the defective performance of the author, but this he will hear 
■with the greatest pleasure if the person dissatisfied will, for the 
lx>nefit of his coimtry, either produce a more perfect work or con- 
tribute to the merits of this." 

In the preparation ol this work he has obtained information 
from various persons and places, but in nearly every instance has 
required documentary evidence for all statements made, and has 
given references where the statement is liable to be questioned, 
and in quoting original papers has done so without changing the 
same in any particular. 

In the course of the preparation of this work he has received as- 
sistance from a number of persons, for which he feels deeply 
grateful. He desires to mention in this connection the following 
persons : Miss Lucy Landrum, his stenographer, who has faithfully 
labored in preparing his manuscript for the printer ;..W. G. Stan- 
ard, secretary of the Virginia Historical Society; the secretary of 
the New York Historical Society, Hon. J. L. Br istow;, Fourth As- 
sistant Postmaster-General, C. A. Dimnington; Congressional Li- 
brary, Washington, D. C. ; Thomas E. ISTimmO', State Library, Rich- 
mon, Va. ; Mrs. Margaret C. Pilcher, Nashville, Tenn. ; Prof. 
T. D. Davidson and many others. L. P. Summers, 

Jime 13, 1903. Abingdon, Va. 



History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, 
Washington County, 1777-1870. 



CHAPTER I. 



1001-1716. The histor}^ of Virginia, from the earliest times 
until the date of the fomiation of Washington county by the 
General Assembly of Virginia, is interesting and; instructive, and 
is necessary to a thorough comprehension of that part of our history 
subsequent thereto. 

In the year 1001, the American Continent was discovered by Leif 
Erickson, a Northiman, who sailed west from Greenland, and landed 
on the coast of America in 411/4 north latitude. He named the 
land of his discovery Vineland. This discovery was made in the 
spring of the year, and the luxuriant growth of vegetation that 
adorned the land suggested the name — A-^ineland. 

This continent was visited by the Northmen at intervals from 
the time of the discovery of Erickson until as late as 1347. The 
visits of tte Northmen to America have often been questioned, and 
were generally doubted, until discoveries made in recent times. 

An examination of the records and documents to be found in the 
archives of the Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen put to rest 
this question. 

So eminent an authority as Humboldt, after an examination of 
the record, says: "The discover}? of the northern part of America 
by the Northmen cannot be disputed." 

No practical benefit resulted from the adventures of the Nortli- 
irien, and in view of the fact that those people ceased to visit tlie 
newly discovered country after 1347, and actually forgot the ex- 
plorations of their people, they are to he given but little credit for 
their early discoveries. 

From the time of the last visit of the Northmen, in 1347, until 
the year 1492, the continent of America was unknown to the inhabi- 



10 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

tants of the rest of the world ; they had never before heard of such 
a land; the curtain of oblivion shut out from the vision of man- 
Idnd the garden spot of God's creation. 

1492. In the year 1492, Christopher Columbus, a native of 
Grenoa, Italy, bearing the flag of Spain, after surmounting innumer- 
able difficulties, sailed west in search of a new land and discovered 
what afterwards proved to be San Salvador, one of the Bahama 
Islands. He took possession of the newly discovered land in the 
name of the King and Queen of Spain. 

Columbus did not visit the mainland of the American Continent 
until many years thereafter. JSTothing could be more pleasant than 
to study the life and daring adventures of Columbus and other 
Spanish, Portuguese, and French explorers, but their efforts are in 
no way associated with the history of the country that we purpose 
to deal with in this book ; this pleasure, therefore, must be deferred 
to another time. 

Columbus ! His name should be ever revered, and his fame is 
as imperishable as the continent that he gave by discovery to the 
world. 

1497. John Cabot, in the year 1497, sailing the flag of England, 
commissioned so to do by Henry VII, discovered Newfoundland 
and Labrador, and declared that he had found a new world. 

1498. The following year John and Sebastian Cabot, under a 
new commission from the King of England, fitted out an expedi- 
tion under the charge of Sebastian Cabot, and, sailing in a north- 
wardly course, sought a route to the East India Islands, but the 
inclemency of the weather and the insurpassable barrier of ice 
forced the abandonment of the original purpose of the expedition. 
The course of the voyage was consequently changed, and, as a result, 
Virginia was discovered in the year 1498. 

John and Sebastian Cabot were the first to discover the Eastern 
coast of America, and England laid claim to all the vast territory 
between the 34th and 68th parallels of north latitude from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, basing her claim on this discovery, 

1539. De Soto, by a commission from the King of Spain, in 
the years 1539 and 1540, extended his discoveries from the north 
of Florida inland to the head waters of the present Holston and 
Clinch rivers and thence to the Mississippi river. 

1584. Eighty-five years intervened between the time of the 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 11 

discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot and the first permanent set- 
tlement made in all the vast territory claimed by England by reason 
of their discoveries, and the honor attending this event Justly be- 
longs to Sir Walter Ealeigh, a young nobleman, a participant in 
the French Protestant wars, who in 1493 applied to Queen Eliza- 
beth for assistance in fitting out an expedition for the purpose of 
planting a Colony in America. In answer to his application the 
Queen gave him a commission creating him Lord of all that por- 
tion of the American continent claimed by England. 

The first expedition sent out by Ealeigh was composed of two 
ships, and their object was to make discoveries. This expedition 
sailed in April, 1584, and, on the 13th day of July of the same 
year, entered Ocracoke inlet within the present limits of North 
Carolina. Here they remained until September, 1584, at which 
time they sailed for England, and upon their arrival Elizabeth gave 
the country the name of Virginia. Immediately upon their return 
seven ships carrying one hundred and eighty men set sail for the 
Few World and landed at Eoanoke Island in the year 1585. 

This company, charmed with the prospects, decided to settle on 
the island. Many of the company, not being accustomed to labor 
and not being inclined to work, were greatly disappointed in their 
hopes, became disheartened and, at the first opportunity, returned 
to England. 

Sir Eichard Grenville left fifteen men on the island to guard the 
rights of England. 

Sir Ealph Lane, one of the returning colonists, introduced the 
use of tobacco into England, he and the other colonists having 
learned from the Indians to smoke it. 

1587. In 1587 Ealeigh sent out another expedition to settle 
Eoanoke Island. This expedition was composed of women and 
children as well as men. 

Upon reaching their destination in safety they found the tene- 
ments and fort in ruins and the beasts of the forest feeding on 
the vegetation where the former settlements had been located. 
They found, also, scattered about the former settlement, the bones 
of the fifteen men left by Sir Eichard Grenville. 

This Colony was in charge of John White. Soon after the land- 
ing, on August 18th, 1587, a child was bom to Annias and Vir- 
ginia Dare, to whom was given the name of ''Virginia Dare." This 



13 Southwest Virginia, llJ^e-llSe. 

was the first white child born of English parents in America. Soon 
after the birth of Virginia Dare, John White returned to England 
for supplies for the Colony, leaving behind him eighty-nine men, 
seventeen women and eleven children. He was delayed on his 
return voyage and when he arrived at Roanoke Island after an 
absence of three years no trace of the Colony could be found except 
the word Croatan carved on a tree. 

It is said, but not. verified, that some of this Colony found shelter 
among the Indians on the coast of North Carolina. 

This story of the first settlement in this part of America remains 
one of the saddest tragedies in our history. 

1606. One hundred and fourteen years had passed since the 
discovery of America by Columbus, when King Jamies the First 
of England granted to a company* of wealthy merchants a patent 
of that part of America lying between the 34th and 45th degrees 
north latitude and all islands within one hundred miles of the 
coast. This grant was divided between the London and Plymouth 
companies. 

The London Company sent out an expedition composed of one 
hundred and five colonists under the command of Captain Christo- 
pher Newport, an experienced seaman. Although this expedition 
sailed in 1606, it did not reach the mouth of Chesapeake bay until 
May 15, 1607. 

f James river and Capes Henry and Charles were discovered 
and named for the king of England and his sons. The colonists 
continued the voyage up the James river about fifty miles, when 
they landed and began the erection of houses and the making of 
all necessary arrangements for a permanent settlement. Thus was 
founded Jamestown, and thus occurred, according to a noted histo- 
rian, "The most important event in profane history," and thus 
the foundation stones of the greatest commonwealth and republic 
thie world has ever known were laid by men whose posterity were 
destined to kindle a spirit of political and religious liberty such as 
can be extinguished only with the Anglo-Saxon race. 

This settlement at Jamestown may be regarded as the starting 
point of all Virginia histories. 

The first Colony in Virginia began under circumstances having 



*Stith— Henning's Statutes at Large, page 60. 
I Indian name "Powhatan River." 



Southwest Virginia, 111^6-1786. 13 

a tendency to discourage tlie thoughtful, and reasonably so, because 
of the fact that of tlie one hundred and five colonists only twelve 
wei-e laborei-s, the remaining ninety-seven being thriftless and dis- 
solute. 

All power was vested in a body of councillors composed of 
Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Winfield, Christopher 
Newport, John Eatcliffe, John Martin and George Kendall. 
Edward Winfield was chosen the first Governor of the Colony of 
Virginia, and tlius began civil government in America. 

Shortly after the settlement Captains Newport and Smith de- 
cided to explore the country, traveled up the James riv.er as far as 
the falls and visited Powhatan, the king of the Indians, whose 
capital was near the present site of the city of Eichmond. 

After a short stay at the Indian village, Newport and Smith 
returned to Jamestown. Newport soon left for England, and 
immediately thereafter trouble arose among the colonists. Win- 
field was succeeded by Eatclifi:e, and Eatcliffe by Captain Smith, 
who, by his excellent management of the Colony, won the title of the 
"Father of Virginia." 

Late in the autumn Captain Newport returned from England, 
bringing about seventy new colonists, two of the number being 
women (Mrs. Forrest and Annie Bergess), and a considerable 
quantity of supplies. 

Among the new colonists were several gold refiners, who, dis- 
covering earth near Jamestowm having a resemblance to gold, pro- 
nounced the same gold of the best quality, and, thereupon, the 
entire Colony forsook all commendable enterprises and wasted their 
time and energies in loading one of Newport's vessels with this 
earth, which proved, upon its arrival in England, to be worthless. 

Another ship returning to England would have been loaded with 
a similar cargo, but Captain Smith objected, and it was loaded 
witli cedar wood. This was the first valuable cargo exported from 
this part of America to England. 

The Colony, having thus wasted their energies and consumed 
their supplies, would, no doubt, have perished during the winter 
that followed, had not Captain John Smith exercised the energies 
of his resourceful mind in feeding and protecting them. The 
best friend Captain Smith found in this New World was Poca- 
hontas, the daughter of Powhatan, the chief of the Indians. The 



14 Southwest Virginia, 17 Jf 6-17 86. 

colonists charged that Smith intended to marry Pocahontas and 
make himself king of Virginia, 

1608. In the year 1G08 Captain Smith, in a small open barge, 
explored the Chesapeake bay and its tributaries. 

1609. In the month of May, 1609, a new and very beneficial 
charter was granted the London Company, and the Colony began 
to prosper. 

The new charter conferred on the company the powers of the 
king, the local authority of the Governor was greatly increased and 
Lord Delaware was made Governor for life. 

Captain Smith, in this year, divided the Colony and sent a part 
thereof to malce a settlement at the falls of the James river, near 
Eichmond, and another part thereof to Nansemond. In this year 
Captain Smith was forced to return to England in consequence of 
serious injuries received from the explosion of his powder flask. At 
the time of his departure the Colony numbered four hundred and 
fifty persons, all abundantly supplied. 

Thus terminated the career in America of the man who faithfully 
earned the title of the "Father of Virginia." 

The Colony thereafter, for a time, was without a competent ruler, 
and such was the profligacy and viciousness of the ruler they had, 
and tbe people, that in a short time the condition of the Colony was 
changed from prosperity to abject want, and by tbe spring of 1610 
there remained but sixty persons in the Colony, and these were on 
the verge of starvation. 

At this time Gates and Somers arrived from the West Indies, and 
all the Colony, crowding aboard their ships, had actually sailed for 
Newfoundland, but they were not out of the James river when 
they were met by Lord Delaware, with three ships, many new set- 
tlers and a large quantity of provisions, in fact everything requisite 
to relieve the situation. Lord Delaware prevailed upon the colo- 
nists to return to Jamestown, where under his splendid manage- 
ment the Colony prospered again. 

Unfortunately, in the year 1611 Lord Delaware was forced by bad 
health to return to England, and the government was placed in the 
hands of Sir George Percy, a man wanting in authority. In a 
short time the Colony was again reduced to abject want. Percy 
was succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale, a man of practical ideas, and 
again the Colony prospered. He was a soldier by profession, and 



Southwest Virginia, 17Ji-6-1786. 15 

his authority, exercised rightly, met the demands of the hour. 
During his administration the Colony was augmented by the arrival 
of three hundred emigrants from England. 

From the founding of the Colony at Jamestown in 1607 until the 
latter part of the administration of Sir Thomas Dale all property 
had been held in common, but he directed a division of property 
among the colonists, and from this time we may certainly trace 
an improvement in the conditions of the people. 

Every man thereafter was dependent upon his individual exer- 
tions for his livelihood. Laziness was punished by flogging and 
irons. Mutineers and deserters were punished with death. The 
lands of the colonists vere divided and allotted to the members 
of the Colony, and then, for the first time, the right of property in 
lands was recognized in America.. Several new settlements were 
made during this time on both sides of the James river. 

The administration of the affairs of the Colony was entrusted suc- 
cessively to Sir Thomas Gates, George Yeardly and Captain 
Argall, and to George Yeardly again in 1619. 

The administration of George Yeardly marks an epoch in the 
history of mankind. 

Beyond question his inspiration was human liberty and repre- 
sentative govenment. He believed the colonists should have a 
hand in the government of themselves. He called a legislative 
assembly to meet at Jamestown on July 30th, 1619, to be composed 
of two representatives from each of the eleven boroughs into 
which the Colony was divided, and this assembly was called the 
House of Burgesses. 

Thus was planted the germ from which sprang representative 
government in America, and thus to Virginia may be credited the 
honor of being the first State in the world* "composed of separate 
boroughs diffused over an extensive surface in which the govern- 
ment was organized on the principle of universal suffrage.'^ 

All freemen, without exception, were entitled to vote. 

In the following year, 1620, a Dutch ship landed at Jamestown 
and sold to the planters about twenty Africans to be held as slaves, 
and thus began slavery in America. 

On the 24th day of July, 1621, the London Company gave to 
the Virginia colonists a written Constitution, granting all the rights 

•Bancroft. 



16 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf-6-1786. 

and liberties theretofore granted by George Yeardl}^, and, about the 
same time, a shipload of English maidens, about one hundred in 
all, arrived at Jamestown. There was great rejoicing, and general 
prosperity prevailed; the colonists were no longer numbered by 
hundreds, but by thousands. 

1622. Sir Francis Wyatt became Governor in the year 1G23, 
and this year witnessed', on March 22d', the massacre of three hun- 
dred and forty-seven men, women and childTen by the Indians, but 
the Colony continued to grow and prosper. 

The London Company was dissolved by the King in the year 1625, 
and from this time the crown of England dictated the policy of the 
Colony. 

Events passed rapidly in Virginia for the next twenty years. One 
governor after another came and went, but none of them was of 
sufficient importance to be mentioned. 

1634. In the year 1634 the territory of Virginia was divided 
into eight shires or counties similar to those in England. For each 
shire lieutenants were appointed to look after the military affairs, 
and sheriffs and justices of the peace were commissioned to hold 
courts in each of the counties, or shires. Thus was constituted and 
thus began the county court system that continued with but little 
change until 1870. 

1646. The Virginia Colony in the struggle between Charles I 
of England and his Parliament sympathized with the King and 
did not hesitate, upon the death of Charles I, to recognize his son, 
Charles II, as king. 

Cromwell sent a force to subdue the Colony in 1650, but the 
attempt was futile and the Virginians submitted only upon condi- 
tion that they be permitted to retain their government and the 
rights and privileges previously bestowed by the kings of England ; 
which was readily agreed to. Eichard Bennett was elected Gover- 
nor, but was shortly thereafter succeeded by Edward Diggs. The 
next Governor of Virginia was Samuel Mathews, a Virginia planter 
of forty years' standing. 

1660. Upon the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Sir William 
Berkley again became the Governor of Virginia. 

1666. The next event of importance in the history of Virginia 
arose in the Colony from the dissatisfaction aroused by the acts of 
the British Parliament and the conduct of Sir William Berkley. A 



Southwest Virginia, 17Ji6-17S6. 17 

large portion of the people of Virginia, under the leadership of 
Nathaniel Bacon, rebelled, and drove Sir William Berkley from 
Jamestown and forced the commissioning of Bacon as a general. 
These troubles ceased with the death of Bacon. This is Icnown as 
Bacon's rebellion, and it partook of the spirit that prompted Patrick 
Henry and the people of Virginia, a hundred years later, to aspire 
to liberty and independence. 

For a period of nearly fifty years but little of interest occurred in 
the history of Virginia save the succession of governors. 

1698. The seat of government was removed from Jamestown to 
Williamsburg in 1698. The reason assigned for the removal was 
that Williamsburg was healthier, and the situation more convenient. 

1710. Alexander Spotswood became the Governor of Virginia 
in 1710, and with prudence governed the Colony for twelve 'years. 
He faithfully guarded the interests of the people of Virginia and, 
during his administration, inaugoirated many new enterprises for 
their good. 

He was the first Postmaster-General for the Colonies and estab- 
lished many postoffices. Under his administration the mails were 
regularly carried from Williamsburg to Philadelphia. The one 
undertaking of this accomplished gentleman and officer that is espe- 
cially interesting to the people of Western Virginia is the expedition 
undertaken by him, when, on the 1st day of August, 1716, he set out 
from Chelsea upon the famous expedition to the Blue Ridge 
mountains. 

The Virginia Colony of one hundred and five souls in 1607 had 
grown to nearly one hundred thousand. Twenty-four counties are 
to be found in the Colony, and the hardy pioneer was fast pushing 
his way to the base of the Blue Eidge mountains, but of the country 
beyond the Blue Ridge mountains nothing was known except the 
indefinite accounts of Indian traders. 

Governor Spotswood determined to explore this unknown region 
and, leaving the home of his son-in-law at Chelsea, in August, 1716, 
accompanied by a gay and gallant band, he began his journey 
through a dense wilderness inhabited by beasts of prey and the cruel 
savage, and after thirty-six days of incessant toil and fatigue, the 
Governor and his party, on September 5, 1716, reached the sum- 
mit of one of the highest peaks of the Blue Ridge mountains, at 
Swift Run Gap, Augusta county, Virginia. 



18 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-17S6. 



What a spot ! What an occasion ! What must have been the feel- 
ings experienced by these gallant knights, when for the first time 
the beautiful Shenandoah was presented to their vision! The 
inspiration of the occasion must have been full compensation for all 
the toil and perseverance expended in the effort. Governor Spots- 
wood, in commemoration of this expedition into the heart of the 
savage wilderness, presented each of the company with a small 
golden horse-shoe set with jewels, and this was the origin of the 
order, "Knights of the Golden Horse-Shoe." 

The inscription upon the golden horse-shoe was "Sic jurat trans- 
cendere montes." (Thus he swears to cross the mountains), and it 
is stated that these mementoes were given to all who would accept 
them, promising to comply with the terms of the inscription. 




Spotswood Classing the Blue Ridge 



Governor Spotswood and his company descended the western side 
of the mountain into the valley, and, finding a ford, they crossed 
the Shenandoah river and "took possession of the country for King 
George the First of England." They crossed the Shenandoah river 
on September 6th and called it the Euphrates. 

Thus the first passage of the Blue Eidge into the Valley of 
Virginia was made by Governor Spotswood at this time, but, as 
early as 1710, a company of adventurers found and went to the 
top of the highest mountain with their horses, but did not pass over 
it into the valley, by reason of the lateness of the season. Abraham 
Wood had visited the New Kiver section in the year 1654. 

1738. In the year 1738 the House of Burgesses of Virginia 
passed a bill for the formation of two countries west of the Blue 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 19 

Eidge moimtains, and accordingly Orange county was divided and 
that part of Orange county west of the Blue Ridge mountains was 
formed into two counties, called Frederick and Augusta counties. 
Thus was opened to settlement a magnificent country of which 
Washington county is a part, and as the history of Washington 
county is inseparably connected with the early history of Augusta 
county, I will here take leave of the general history of Virginia. 



20 Southwest Virginia, 174G-178G. 

CHAPTER II 

Indians Living in Close Proximity to Southwest Virginia. 

The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 can be attrib- 
uted to the pious zeal of the Queen of Spain to extend the bene- 
fits of the religion of Eome to all manlvind, and to the search for 
gold. It is a matter of history that the Queen of Spain, to enable 
Columbus to explore the western seas, sacrificed many of the jewels 
pertaining to her queenly estate. 

And the Queen of Spain was but one of many emissaries of the 
church, who, in their zeal, were ready to brave the unknown seas 
and to make any sacrifices to serve their master. With Columbus 
came a number of priests, and with every ship that sailed from the 
coast of Spain, France, Portugal and Italy, the missionaries of the 
cross were to be numbered among the passengers, bound for Amer- 
ica, determined to explore the Kew World, hunt out the inhabitants 
thereof, and convert them' to their master. Thus, within a few years 
after the discovery of America, priests were to be found in almost 
every part of the New World, exploring the country and teaching 
the Indians their blessed religion. The priesthood of Eome in 
those early days were educated, energetic, observing men, as they 
have ever been, and it is to this source that we must look for the 
earliest history of our country and of the Indian inhabitants for 
many years previous to the coming of the Anglo- Sa:^on race. 

These early visitors to this portion of America preserved a history 
of their times, and it is to be found in the archives of the govern- 
ments of France, Spain and Portugal, and of the Church of 
Eome. This investigation will not permit any inquiry extending 
beyond the limits of that portion of Southwest Virginia included 
within the bounds of Washington county. 

In the year 1539 Hernando De Soto landed at Tampa, Florida, 
with orders from the Court of Spain to form a settlement on the 
seashore and to explore Florida to its westernmost limits. 

The Spanish government at that time contended that Florida 
included all that part of America extending from the Gulf of 
Mexico on the south to Virginia on the north, and from the 
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 21 

Pursuant to his autbority De Soto, at the head of a thousand 
men, exploring the country, traveled in a northerly direction to the 
home of thd Appalaches, a tribe of Indians living on the banks of 
a river in Georg-ia called by the Indians Witchlacooche ; thence, 
continuing in a northerly direction, they passed near the present site 
of Columbia, S. C, where they struck the Santee river, thence pass- 
ing up the Saluda branch of the Santee, they came, for the first 
time, to a country uninhabited, and found it difficult to obtain food 
sufficient to sustain themselves, but sending out companies of men 
to search for Indians, after some time a party of men returned 
to camp accompanied by a few Indians, who, being questioned, 
informed De Soto that to the north of them' there lived a powerful 
tribe of Indians on the Hogoheegee river (Tennessee river), to 
which place they traveled. This tribe of Indians was called, at that 
time, Cafitachique and was governed by a queen. 

The historian of this expedition, Louis Hernandez De Biedma, 
says : "We remained ten or twelve days in the Queen's village, and 
then set off to continue our explorations of the country." 

De Soto marched thence ten days in a northerly direction through 
a mountainous country where but little food was to be found until 
he reached a province called Xuala, which was thinly settled. He 
then ascended to the source of the Great river,* which he supposed 
was the St. Esprit. This information was furnished by De Biedma 
to the King and council of the West Indies in 1544 and is now 
in existence and fully authenticated. 

To any one who will take the time and trouble to investigate this 
matter it will he evident that De Soto and his followers explored 
the coimtry from Florida to the Queen's village, which must have 
been on the Tennessee river near the present site of Knoxville, 
Tennessee. Thence ascending the same to its sources they were, as 
early as 1540, beyond question, visitors to the territory now included 
within the boundaries of Washington county. 

The course pursued and the time required, it has been aptly said, 
confirm this opinion. 

But a small part of the account of this trip of exploration has 
been herein copied, but space will not permit much to be said. The 
reader must not conclude from what has been said that De Soto 
and his followers met with no resistance from the inhabitants of 



»The Indians always spoke of the Tennessee river as the Great river. 



22 Southwest Virginia, 17Jk6-1786. 

the country through which they passed, for this same account de- 
tails the incidents connected with many desperate battles between 
the invaders and the invaded, and at no part of the journey did De 
Soto meet such magnificent specimens of mankind or find greater 
resistance than upon his arrival at the Queen's village on the Ten- 
nessee and in his progress thence to the sources of the Great river. 

De Biedma tells us that the inhabitants of Xuala were a hardy 
race, living in log houses daubed with clay and very comfortable in 
the winter season, but that during the summer months they usually 
reposed in the open air, spending much of their time in hunting. 

According to this same authority they used sharped-edged stones, 
slings, bows, arrows and clubs in war and peace. Many evidences 
of the instruments used by the Indians and the places of their 
manufacture are to be found in Southwest Virginia at this date. 

The inhabitants of Xuala lived, as did all the Indian inhabitants 
south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, in towns, but the towns of 
the inhabitants of Xuala differed from those of most other tribes 
of Indians in this, that their towns generally were so built as to 
combine the requisites of a town and a fort. 

These forts were circular and varied in size from three hun- 
dred to six hundred and a thousand feet in diameter. 

They were sometimes built of stone, and in other instances of 
earth. The embankments were from six to ten feet high and in 
many cases surrounded by ditches of requisite width and depth. 

They were used as towns as well as forts. Many fragments of 
carved stone and earthenware are to be found near those old forts. 

The remnants of these forts or towns can be found in Southwest 
Virginia at this time. 

In Castle's "Woods, Eussell county, as well as on the farm of T. P. 
Hendricks and at other places in this county, the evidences of 
former Indian towns are clearly perceptible. 

A stone fort of great size formerly stood in Abb's Valley, Taze- 
well county, and what is spoken of as a remarkable fort is to be 
found on the farm formerly owned by a Mr. Crockett near Tazewell 
C. H., having evident traces of trenches and something like a draw- 
bridge. 

An Indian town stood upon the Byars farm in the upper end of 
this county, and the Indian name thereof is preserved: "Kilmack- 
ronan.^' 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 23 

These forts and other evidences of Indian occupancy must be 
attributed to the men occupying Xuala at the time of the visit of De 
Soto in 1540, for they cannot be the product of the Cherokees. 
since an examination of the age of trees found growing on these 
forts is sufficient to Show that they were there before the coming 
of the Cherokees, and, for this better reason, these forts were not 
built after the manner of the Cherokees. 

From a perusal of the preceding pages it is evident that the 
land of the Xualas of three hundred and sixty years ago was none 
other than Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee, and that it was 
peopled by a hardy, ingenious, war-like race. 

It is proper to state here that many historians repudiate the idea 
that De Soto visited Southwest Virginia in 1540, but it is the 
opinion of this writer that he did visit this section at that time, 
and this opinion is given after a careful perusal of all available 
authorities. 

We know nothing further of the people who inhabited Xuala, or 
Southwest Virginia in 1540. A tradition existed among the Chero- 
kees that these people were driven from Southwest Virginia by 
the Cherokees some time in the ages preceding the coming of the 
white man, but no authentic information exists by which their exit 
can be noted. 

Captain Henry Batte with a company of rangers, by direction of 
Governor Berkley, crossed the Blue Eidge mountains at Wood's 
Gap now in Floyd county, in 1671 and came near to the habitations 
of a tribe of Indians living on a river flowing westward, said by the 
Indian guides to be the makers and venders of sa]t to 'he other 
Indian tribes, and resembling, in many particulars, the inhabitants 
of Xuala as described by De Biedma, and it is more than prob- 
able that the early inhabitants of Southwest Virginia were not 
driven from their homes until after 1671. 

As far as I can ascertain, the Indian inhabitants of Southwest 
Virginia have been Xualans, Cherokees and Shawncse. 

Some time between the years 1671 and 1685 the Xualans were 
driven from Southwest Virginia by the Cherokee tribe of Indians, 
and this tribe is closely identified with the settlement of Southwest 
Virginia. 

Adair, an early writer, says that this tribe of Indians derive their 
name from Chee-ra "fire," which is their reputed lower heaven. 



24 Southivest Virginia, 17J/6-1786. 

The origin of this tribe is not known, but a tradition existed 
among them that when they crossed the Alleghanies they found a 
part of the Creek Nation inhabitating this countr}^, and it may be 
that the Creek Indians were the inhabitants of ancient Xuala. 

The Cherokees were the mountaineers of aboriginal America; 
they loved their homes, were brave to a fault, and were never happy 
except when engaged in war. 

This nation and many of their villages will be frequently men- 
tioned in connection with the early exploration and settlement of 
Southwest Virginia, for many times did our ancestors suffer from 
their vigor and enterprise. 

This tribe of Indians gave names to most of the rivers in South- 
west Virginia, and it may be proper to here detail the aboriginal 
names of the rivers of Southwest Virginia. 

The Holston river from its source to the junction of the French 
Broad, was called the Hogoheegee, and from thence to the mouth 
of the Little Tennessee river it was known as the Cootcla. 

The early maps of this section of America made by the French 
explorers gave to the Holston river the name of the Cherokee river ; 
to the Clinch they gave the name of Shawanon, and to the same 
river the English gave the name of Shawanoa, and the Indian 
name for the Clinch river was Pellissippi. 

The Cherokees were not long peirmitted to enjoy the fruits of 
their conquest, for as early as 1672 the confederacy of the Six 
Nations conquered the Illinois and Shawnese Indians, the latter 
tribe being a part of the Six Nations. 

In 1685 they added to their conquests the Miamis and carried 
their victorious arms to the Mississippi and south as far as Georgia, 
a vast territory twelve hundred miles in length and six hundred 
miles in breadth, and, in doing so, destroyed whole nations of In- 
dians of whom no record was found by the English. 

The Cherokees were driven south of the Tennessee, and settled 
upon the Savannah and in the territory south of the Tennessee, and 
there made their homes until moved by the Anglo-Saxon settlers 
about one hundred years thereafter. 

Thus the vast extent of territory lying south and east of the Ohio 
river and including Southwest Virginia was conquered, but not 
occupied, by the confederacy of the Six Nations, and its inhabitants 
were driven into other coimtries. It thus became a "vast wilderness. 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 25 

never thereafter to be occupied until the coining of the white man, 
except by roving bands of Indians while hunting, or in passing from 
their habitations in the south to the Indian towns and villages in 
Ohio. 

This vast park was filled with the finest game in great quantities, 
and, for more than one hundred years previous to its settlement by 
the Anglo-Saxon, it was jointly used, as if by common consent, as 
a hunting ground by the Cherokees, Shawnese and Six Nations, but 
the Cherokees were compelled to admit the superior title of the Six 
Nations to the sovereignty of the soil, which they did by frequent 
gifts of game killed within the territory. 

Some writers, in explanation of the absence of the Indians from 
this section of America at the time of the early explorations of 
the white man, give the following as a tradition of the Cherokees 
and Shawnese: "that in so favored a land, where man's natural 
wants are so fully satisfied, there could be no community of peace 
and happiness, that with such ease to the body and disquiet to the 
soul the councils of man must always overflow with the vanities 
of argument and the pride of innate egotism; so the tradition was, 
that once of old there was a delegated assemblage of the chiefs of 
the Indian tribes for a conference with the Great Spirit, at which 
conference the Great Spirit detailed certain great calamities that 
had befallen them in the paradise of Hogoheegee, which were trace- 
able to the causes named above, and thereupon the Great Spirit 
ordered all their nations to remove beyond certain boundaries, out 
of this Eden, which the Great Spirit informed them was too easy 
of life for their content and happiness and their future security." 

Thereupon this vast empire was consigned to the peacefiil domin- 
ion of nature, and all the lands upon the waters from the Holston to 
the headwaters of the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers were with- 
out permanent inhabitants. 

The first cause above assigned was the true cause of tbe uninhab- 
ited condition of Southwest Virginia, the enmity between the Chero- 
kees and Shawnese. This enmity was such as to deter both tribes 
from any considerable aggressions on this territory, the middle 
ground between the nations. Many battles were fought between 
these two nations, and, even so late as the summer of 1768, a des- 



26 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

perate battle was fought between the Chetokees and Shawnese near 
Eich Mountain,* in Tazewell county, Virginia. 

Early in the summer of 1768 about two hundred Cherokee In- 
dians camped near a lick in that part of Southwest Virginia to 
spend the summer in hunting. 

They were soon disturbed by the appearance of several hundred 
Shawnese Indians, their deadly enemies. 

The Shawnese chief immediately sent orders to the Cherokees to 
leave the lick and the hunting grounds, but his messenger was sent 
back with a defiant answer by the Cherokees and both parties began 
to prepare for battle. The Cherokees retired to the top of Eich 
Montain and there threw up, before night, a breastwork consisting 
of an embankment running along the top of the mountain about 
eighty yards and then turning off down the mountain side, the em- 
bankment being three or four feet high and running east and west. 

The battle was opened the evening of the first day, but after 
some fighting the Shawnese withdrew and made preparations to 
begin the attack the following morning. It is said that long before 
day the fiendish yells of the warriors might be heard echoing 
over the rugged cliffs and deep valleys of the surrounding country. 
Day came, and for the space of half an hour, a deathlike stillness 
reigned on the mountain top and side. With the first rays of the 
rising sun a shout ascended the sides as if all the wild animals in 
the woods had broken forth in all their most terrifying notes. 

The sharp crack of rifles and the ringing of tomahawks against 
each other, the screams of women and children and the groans of 
the dying now filled the air around. 

Both parties were well armed and the contest was nearly equal, 
the Shawnese having most men, while the Cherokees had the advan- 
tage of their breastworks. Through the entire day the battle raged, 
and when night closed in, both parties built fires and camped on 
the ground. 

During the night the Cherokees sent to two white men then in the 
vicinity for powder and lead, which they furnished. 

When the sun rose the next morning the battle was renewed with 
the same spirit in which it had been fought on the previous day. In 
a few hours, however, the Shawnese were compelled to retire. The 
loss on both sides was great. A large pit was dug and a common 



*Bickley's History of Tazewell County. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 27 

grave received those who had fallen in this the last battle fonght 
between the red men in this section of America. The battle-ground, 
breastwork and great grave are still to be seen. 

At the time of the earlier explorations of Southwest Virginia the 
nearest permanent Indian settlements were to be found south of the 
Tennessee river. 

Many vestiges of an earlier and numerous population were found 
in Southwest Virginia and, in many instances, are still to be seen, 
indicating a state of civilization far in advance of that found among 
the Indians of that day. 

The first hunters and explorei-s in their many expedfitioiis 
throughout all this vast territory never found a single wigwam or 
Indian village. It was nothing more than the common hunting 
ground of the Cherokees and Shawnese. 

Along the valley of what is known as Southwest Virginia lay the 
usual route of travel between the Southern and Northern Indians, 
whether engaged in peaceful intercourse or warlike expeditions, and 
by this same path they traveled when on the chase or their migra- 
tions. 

Several considerations prompted the Indians to adopt this course 
in their travelings, viz. : such as the ease with which the mountains 
could be crossed', the abundance of game, the absence of swamps and 
large streams of impassable water and the absence of hostile inhabi- 
tants, and these same considerations led to the early settlement of 
this section and the adoption of this route of travel by the early 
Scotch, Irish and English settlers of Kentucky and Tennessee. 

One of these routes or Indian trails was nearly on the present 
McAdam road passing Eoanoke, Va., thence to New Eiver near 
Inglis' Ferry, thence, following the same McAdam road, to Seven 
Mile Ford', thence to the left of the present main road and following 
near to the present location of the same by Abingdon until it strikes 
the North Fork of Holston river a few miles above the Long 
Island of Holston river, crossing the same at the old ford of the 
North Fork and on into Tennessee until it connected with the great 
warpath of the Creeks. Near Wolf Hills, now Abingdon, another 
route or trail came in from the northwest. This trail from tlie 
northwest pursued nearly the route traveled by the early settlers to 
Kentucky, crossing the mountains at Cumberland Gap. A more 



38 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-17S6. 

minute description of this trail will be given in another and more 
appropriate place in this book. 

This trail crossed the first above described Indian trail at a point 
on West Main street where the Eussell road leaves Main street. The 
statement has been often made that an Indian trail followed the 
northwest bank oi the North Fork of Holston river through this 
county, but I am not satisfied that such was a fact. 

Bickley, in his history of Tazewell county, says the principal 
Indian trails through Tazewell county led through the Clinch Val- 
ley, but after the whites began to settle, these Indian trails all led 
from the Ohio river. One of these trails led up the Indian Eidge 
(now on the boundary between Virginia and West Virginia) till 
opposite the Trace Fork of Tug river ; it then crossed over to that 
branch and, keeping into the lowest gap of the hills, led into Abb's 
Valley. 

Another trail, afterwards much used by the whites, left the 
Indian Eidge andi struck Tug river at the mouth of Clear Fork 
creek, thence up that creek till it fell over on a branch emptying 
into the Dry Fork of Tug river. It then followed that stream to its 
head and passed through Eoark's Gap, near Maxwell's, in Taze- 
well county. 

Another trail came up the Louisa Fork of Sandy river, leading 
into the settlements on Clinch river, now in Eussell and Tazewell 
counties. It is worthy of notice that these trails always crossed 
the mountains and ridges at the lowest gaps to be found, and 
frequently, built in these gaps, are to be found monuments of 
rock piled up oftentimes to considerable height. Several of these 
monuments may be seen in this county, in Little Moccasin Gap, on 
the Byars farm- on Middle Fork, on the Mahaffey farm on South 
Fork, and another in Eoark's Gap, in Tazewell county. 

Eamsey, in his Annals of Tennessee, states that the first described 
Indian trail after leaving Seven Mile Ford bore to the left and fol- 
lowed the Middle and South Forks of Holston river until it crossed 
the North Fork of Holston river at the Old Ford above Long 
Island in Tennessee. 

In making this statement the historian may be correct, and some 
evidences yet remain that might be given to sustain this statement, 
notably a small Indian mound and the vestiges of an old Indian 
village (Kilmackronan), on the north and south sides of the Middle 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-17SG. 39 

Fork of Holston river, where the same passes through the farm 
formerly owned by Captain James Byars near Glade Spring, and a 
small Indian mound on the farm formerly owned by J. G.. Mahaffey 
about six miles southeast of Abingdon. 

But we cannot admit this statement to be co;rrect, because the 
route as described is inconsistent with the habits of the Indians, 
besides, it does not conform to the course pursued by the early set- 
tlers of this section of Virginia. 

The Indian in traveling (almost without a single exception, as 
far as I can ascertain) followed that course of travel which would, 
as far as possible, avoid the crossing of water, and of course he 
followed the highlands near the headwaters of the creeks and rivers. 
It is evident to every man conversant with the topography of this 
county that he would have passed through this county near Glade 
Spring, Meadow View and Abingdon. 

It is generally accepted as true that the early hunters and explor- 
ers in this, as well as other sections of Virginia and the United 
States, followed, almost without a single deviation, the trails made 
and used by the Indians. And to this cause may be attributed the 
fact that many of the public roads of this section when first estab- 
lished were located over the steepest hills and ridges to be found in 
our country. 

In other words, the Indian made his trail over the hills to avoid 
the waters; the white man adopted the Indian trail as his road 
because it was already open, and possibly, to some extent, for the 
same reason as the Indian, to avoid crossing water. 

We know that the early hunters and settlers traveling through 
and settling in this section, after leaving Seven Mile Ford passed 
through the Byars farm near Glade Spring, thence near Meadow 
View and through the location of Abingdon of the present day, and 
into Tennessee. 

Another statement made by Ramsey as to this same Indian trail 
is frequently challenged, and for very good reason. 

Ramsey states that this Indian trail crossed the North Fork of 
Holston river above Long Island as above stated, while from all 
present indications this trail crossed the South Fork of Holston 
river at Long Island. 

At least evidences of an Indian trail and ford are to be seen 
near Long Island at this time, and it is not reasonable to believe 



30 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

that the Indians would cross the North Fork of the Holston river 
and then the Holston river proper to reach his towns and home, 
when he could cross the South Fork of Holston once and reach his 
home. 

Wliile Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee were unoccupied 
by the Indians at the time of the early settlements, still it may not 
be amiss to give briefly a description of the Indian tribes that pre- 
ceded our forefathers and afterwards gave them so much trouble in 
their first undertakings. 

As to the remote Indian inhabitants of this section of the Ameri- 
can Continent, nothing authentic is known beyond the evidences of 
their occupancy to be gathered from tumuli scattered throughout 
the country and the remains found in close proximity thereto. 

These remains indicate the existence, at some distant time, of a 
dense population, civilized to a great extent, and it is not improb- 
able that at a time in the past all this section was the seat of a 
civilization that would have compared favorably with that of Greece 
and Eome. 

The Cherokee Indians knew nothing further of these vestiges 
than that their forefathers found them here, and they considered 
them the evidences of a numerous population far advanced in civili- 
zation. 

The modern Indian held in great veneration these evidences of 
an extinct tribe, and never used them save for religious purposes. 

The piles of stones often found scattered throughout the country, 
generally to be found in the gaps of the mountains and ridges, are 
believed to be the work of modem Indians. The modern Indian 
was of an exceedingly superstitious turn, as all barbarians or 
heathen nations have been. 

It has been for all time not uncommon to find, in heathen coun- 
tries, similar heaps of stone erected by the inhabitants at some 
particular spot, as an offering to an evil spirit, who, according to 
their superstitions, would afflict or bless the passer-by. 

A pile of stone, such as indicated, may be seen near the main 
turnpike road as it passes through Little Moccasin Gap. 

The Indian tribes that molested the early settlers in this section 
were the Cherokees and the Shawnese. 

Adair, an early Indian trader, and later historian, in describing 
the Indian and his passion for revenge, says: 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 31 

"I have known them to go a thousand miles for the purpose of 
revenge, in pathless woods, over hills and mountains, through large 
cane swamps full of grape-vines and briars, over broad lakes, rapid 
rivers and deep creeks and all the way endangered by poisonous 
snakes, if not by the rambling and lurking enemy, while, at the 
same time, they were exposed to the extremities of the heat and 
cold, the vicissitudes of the season, to hunger and thirst, both by 
chance and their religiously scanty method of living when at war, 
to fatigue and other difficulties. Such is their revengeful temper 
that all these things they contemn as imaginary trifles, if they are 
so happy as to get the scalp of their enemy." 

And this record is preserved by a man who spoke from his 
experience with the Cherokee Indians, the one tribe that gave the 
early settlers of this section more trouble than all the Indian tribes 
combined. 

CHEROKEES. 

The Cherokee tribe of Indians, at the time of the settlement of 
Southwest Virginia, inhabited one of the most attractive sections 
of the American Continent, occupying the banks of the Catawba, 
Savannah, Yadkin and Tennessee rivers on the east and south and 
several of the feeders of the Tennessee on the west. 

There were no fortresses to be found among them. Their settle- 
ments were rude huts scattered irregularly along some water way 
convenient to good pasture land and hunting and fishing grounds. 

They usually had small clearings which were cultivated by the 
women and children in Indian corn and beans. 

But little of the history of the Cherokees can be gathered from 
their traditions. The existence of this tribe of Indians was noted by 
the historian of the expedition of De Soto when traveling in the 
South, and it is said that they came originally from east of the 
Alleghany mountains. Their principal town or capital city was 
Choto, located about five miles from the ruins of Fort Loudon, in 
Tennessee. 

They were the mountain people of America and loved their homes 
and their liberties. 

They frequently aided the early settlers of this portion of America 
in their wars with the French and English, a company of Indians 
from this tribe having participated in the siege of Fort Du Quesne 



32 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

under Captain Pearis, but much oftener did they carry death into 
the homes of the early settlers of the Carolinas and Virginia. 

This tribe, previous to 1769, were numerous and exceedingly 
quarrelsome and arrogant. 

At this time they quarreled with the Chickasaw Indians and 
undertook an invasion of their country, but were overwhelmed by 
the Chickasaws after a great battle at the Chickasaw old fields. 

Thisi overwhelming defeat occurred at the same time that Arthur 
Campbell, William Edmiston, and many other hardy pioneers 
first pitched their tents on the waters of the Holston and Clinch, 
and there can be no doubt that this occurrence contributed much to 
the rapid settlement of this section of Virginia. 

For thirty years following the advent of the first settlers into this 
country the Cherokees killed and scalped the inhabitants at every 
opportunity. 

The population of this tribe in 1735 was considerable. Adair 
says that they had sixty^four populous towns, and their fighting 
men numbered above six thousand. 

In the year 1776 the number of warriors pertaining to this tribe 
was two thousand four hundred and ninety-one. 

This tribe of Indians now occupy a part of the Indian Territory. 
It will be remembered that the Cherokees used principally the val- 
leys of the Holston in their hunting expeditions and seldom visited 
the valleys of the Clinch. 

SHAWNESE. 

But little can be said of this Indian tribe save that it was known 
as a wandering nation. 

At times in their history they occupied territory in almost all 
sections of the country east of the Mississippi river and south of 
the Lakes, but at the time when this tribe gave trouble to our 
ancestors their homes were on the Wabash and Miami rivers, where 
they built many villages. Their principal town, called "Piquo,^' was 
the birthplace of the great Tecumseh. 

This tribe had a tradition respecting their origin. They believed 
their fathers crossed the ocean from the East under the guidance of 
a leader of the Turtle tribe, one of their original subdivisions, and 
that they walked into the sea, the waters of which parted, and thus 
passed over on the bottom to this land. 



Southwest Tirgifiia, 1746-1786. 33 

This tribe of Indians were responsible for many of the murders 
and outrages suflEered by the early settlers on the Clinch and many 
times on the Holston, the Indians coming by the trails through 
Cumberland Gap and the trails coming into Tazewell county pre- 
viously described. 

The population of this tribe in 1735 did not, according to Adair, 
exceed four hundred and fifty souls. 

This tribe of Indians- assisted the British in the wars of 177G 
and 1812, and in the latter struggle did effective service for their 
British allies. 

In 1817 they ceded their lands in Ohio to the United States and 
were soon confined to a small reservation west of the Mississippi 
river. 



34 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



CHAPTER III 

Eaely Explorations of Southwest Virginia by the White 

Man. 

From the time of the first settlement at Jamestown in 1607, the 
English Colony had grown rapidly and had expanded until their 
western borders were in view of the Blue Ridge. With the usual 
vigor and enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon, we find, in the year 1641, 
a number of the citizens of Virginia petitioning the House of Bur- 
gesses for permission to undertake the discovery of a new river of 
land west and southerly from the Appomattox, and, in March, 1642, 
we find the House of Burgesses passing an act granting such per- 
mission. The act is as follows : 

"Forasmuch as Walker Austin, Rice Hoe, Joseph Jolinson and 
Walter Chiles, for themselves and such others as they shall think 
fitt to joyn with them, did petition in the Assembly in June 1641 
for leave and encouragement to undertake the discovery of a new 
river of unknowne land bearing west southerly from Appomattake 
river. Be it enacted and confirmed, that they and every one of them 
and whom they shall admit shall enjoy and possess to them, their 
heirs, executors, administrators or assigns all profit whatsoever they 
in their particular adventure can make unto themselves by such 
discovery aforesaid, for fourteen years after the date of the said 
month of January, 1641, provided there be reserved and paid into 
his Majesty's use by them that shall be appointed to receive them, 
the fifth part of Royal Mines whatsoever ; provided also, that if they 
shall think fit to employ more than two or three men in the said 
discovery they shall then do it by commission from the Governor of 
the Councill."* 

It is well to preserve this the earliest known evidence of the desire 
of any man to hunt out the very country we now occupy. 

The names of a portion of these first daring spirits, Austin, John- 
son and Chiles, afterwards became familiar to our own country, 
and while no evidence is at hand to establish the fact, yet it is more 
than probable that these men by their efforts made possible the 
future success of Walker, Draper, Inglis, Wood, and others. 



a Hen. Stat., p. 262. 



Southivcst Virginia, 1746-1786. 35 

The record of the next effort to reach this portion of the ^^dlde^- 
ness by the enterprising citizens of Eastern Virginia is to be found 
in an act of the House of Burgesses of Virginia passed in July, 
1653, more than a hundred years before a permanent settlement 
was effected on the waters of the Clinch or Holston rivers. 

The Act is as follows. Passed July, 1653 : 

"Whereas, an act was made in the Assembly, 1642, for encour- 
agement of discoveries to the westward and southward of this 
country, granting them all profits arising thereby for fourteen 
years, which act is since discontinued and made void, it is by 
this Assembly ordered that Colonel William Clayborne, Esq., and 
Captain Henry Fleet, they and their associates with them, either 
jointly or severally, . may discover, and shall enjoy such benefits, 
profits and trades for fourteen years as they shall find out in places 
where no English ever have been and discovered, nor have had par- 
ticular trade, and to take up such lands by patents proving their 
rights as they shall think good : nevertheless, not excluding others 
after their choice from taking up land and planting in these new 
discovered places, as in Virginia now versed. The like order is 
granted to Major Abram Wood and his associates." 

The three gentlemen, William Clayborne, Henry Fleet and Abra- 
ham Wood, mentioned in this act, each represented a shire in the 
Virginia House of Burgesses, and were intent, no doubt, upon the 
acquisition of wealth and the development of the country. 

We have no information that leads us to believe that any of the 
persons named in the preceding act, with the exception of Colo- 
nel Abraham Wood, at any time made an effort to accomplish the 
purpose of that act. 

Dr. Hale, in his book entitled "Trans-Alleghany Pioneers," 
makes the following statement : 

"The New river was first discovered and named in 1654 by Colo- 
nel Abraham Wood, who dwelt at the falls of the Appomattox, now 
the site of Petersburg, Va." 

Being of an adventurous and speculative turn, he got from the 
Governor of Virginia a concession to explore the country and open 
up trade with the Indians to tlic west. There is no record as to 
the particular route he took, but as the line of adventure, explora- 
tion and discovery was then all east of the mountains, it is prob- 



36 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

able that he first struck the river not far from the Blue Eidge and 
near the present Virginia and Korth Carolina lines," 

I do not know from what source Dr. Hale obtained this infor- 
mation, and I give it for what it is worth. 

It is reasonable to believe that Colonel Wood made this trip, 
and, to support this view, three circumstances may be mentioned. 
First. The House of Burgesses of Virginia had authorized Colo- 
nel Wood, along with others, in July of the preceding year, to 
discover a new river of unknown land where no English had ever 
been or discovered. Secondly. A gap in the Blue Ridge, lying 
between the headwaters of Smith river, a branch of the Dan, in 
Patrick county, and of Little river, a branch of New river, in Floyd 
county, is to this day called Wood's Gap. Thirdly. The present 
New river was known at first as Wood's river. It is known that 
at the time Thomas Batts and a company of men acting under the 
authority of Colonel Wood visited this section in the year 1671, 
Wood's Gap and New river had been previously visited and named 
by Colonel Wood. 

In the year 1671, Thomas Batts and several other persons 
traveled from the falls of the Appomattox, the present site of Pe- 
tersburg, Va., acting under a commission from Governor Berkley, 
to explore the country west of the Blue Ridge mountains and the 
South Sea. 

It is worthy of notice that at the time this expedition was under- 
taken it was believed that the waters flowing westward beyond the 
Appalachian mountains emptied into the South Sea. 

This was the first effort made to explore the country west of the 
Blue Ridge, of which any record has been preserved. 

A journal of this expedition was made by Thomas Batts, one of 
the company. The first entry in this journal is as_ follows: 

"A commission being granted the Hon. Maj. Gen. Wood for 
ye finding out of the ebbing and flowing of ye waters behind the 
mountains in order to the discovery of the South Sea: Thomas 
Batts, Thomas Wood, Robert Fallen, accompanied by Perachute, a 
great man of the Appomattox Indians, and Jack Nesan, formerly 
servant to Majr. Genl. Wood, with flve horses, set forward from 
Appomattox town in Va., and about eight of the clock in the morn- 
ing being Fryday Septr. 1st. 1671, and traveling about forty miles, 
took up their quarters and found they had traveled from Okene- 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 37 

cliee path due west: They traveled for twenty-five days, a part of 
the time through that portion of Virginia, near the present line 
between this State and North Carolina, but when they reached the 
foot of the Alleghany Mountains where the same merges into the 
Blue Eidge, now in Floyd Go. Va., they turned to the north west 
at a low place in the said mountain known as Wood's G-ap; and 
after some time they came to a river which Genl. Wood had named 
W^ood's River.* This river for many years thereafter was known 
as Wood's Eiver, and many of the early patents in that section 
of the country describe the lands as located upon Wood's River." 
The entry in this diary of date the 16th of Sept. says: "About 
ten of the clock we set forward and, after we had traveled about 
ten miles, one of the Indians killed a deer; presently after they 
had a sight of a curious river like the Thames agt. Chilcey (Chel- 
sea), which having a fall yt made a great noise, whose course was 
N". and so as they supposed, ran W. about certain pleasant mountains 
which they saw to the westward. At this point they took up their 
quarters, their course having been W. by N. At this point they 
found Indian fields with cornstalks in them. They marked the 
trees with the initials of the company, using branding irons, and 
made proclamation in these words: 'Long live King Charles ye 2nd. 
king of England, France, Scotland, Ireland and Virginia and all 
the terrytories thereunto belonging, defender of the faith.' 

"When they came to ye river-side they found it better and 
broader than they expected, fully as broad as the Thames over agt, 
Maping, ye falls much like the falls of the James River in Va., and 
imagined by the water marks it flowed there about three feet. It 
was then ebbing water. They set up a stick by the water, but 
found it ebbed very slowly." 

At this point their Indian guides stopped, and refused to go any 
farther, saying that there dwelt near this place a numerous and 
powerful tribe of Indians that made salt and sold it to the other 
tribes, and that no one who entered into their towns had ever been 
able to escape. Thereupon the trip was abandoned and they 
started on their return to their homes without having accomplished 
the object of the exploration, to-wlt: the finding of the South Sea. 
But the journal adds that when they were on the top of the hill 
they took a prospect as far as they could see and saw westwardly 



*Now New River. 



38 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

over certain delightful hills a fog arise, and a glimmering light as 
from water, and supjiosed they might be from some great bog. 

Many writers suppose that this exploring party, after reaching 
the New river, descended the same to the falls of the Kanawha, 
but it is more than probable that after they reached the river they 
ascended the same, and the stopping point mentioned in the diary 
was in Southwest Virginia, and near where the New river first 
enters Virginia. 

IJpon the return of this company to their homes Governor Berk- 
ley was very much interested in their report, but strange as it 
may seem to the reader, no further attempts were made by au- 
thority of the Government of Virginia for forty years to explore 
the country west of the mountains. 

It will be seen from the journal of Thomas Batts that he and 
his associates, and, beyond a doubt. Colonel Abraham Wood an- 
ticipated, by more than half a century. Governor Spotswood and 
his Knights of the Golden Horse- Shoe, in the exploration and dis- 
covery of the country west of the Blue Eidge mountains. 

The next effort made to explore the region west of the moun- 
tains, of which we have any account, occurred in 1716, forty-five 
years after the journey made by Thomas Batts, above described, 
and sixty years subsequent to the visit of Colonel Abraham Wood. 

In the month of August, 1716, Governor Alexander Spotswood, 
with several members of his staff, left Williamsburg by coach and 
proceeded to Germania, where he left his coach and proceeded on 
horseback. At Germania this party was supplemented by a num- 
ber of gentlemen, their retainers, a company of rangers, and four 
Meherrin Indians — about fifty persons in all. 

They journeyed by way of the upper Rappahannock, and on the 
thirty-sixth day out, being September 5, 1716, they scaled the Blue 
Eidge at Swift Eun Gap, now in Augusta county. 

John Fontaine, a member of this company, has left a journal of 
this expedition, and therein thus describes what occurred when 
they reached the summit of the Blue Eidge : "We drank King 
George's health and all the royal family's at the very top of the 
Appalachian mountains." 

The company then descended the western side of the mountain, 
and, reaching the Shenandoah river, they encamped upon its banks. 
Fontaine thus preserves an account of what occurred : 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 39 

"The Governor had graving irons, but could not grave anything, 
the stones were so hard. I graved my name on a tree by the river- 
side, and tlie Governor l)urried a bottle with a paper enclosed on 
which he writ that he took possession of this place in the name 
and for King Geo. 1st. of England. Wc had a good dinner, and 
after it we got the men together, and loaded all their arms, and 
we drank the King's health in champaign and fired a volley, the 
Princess's health in Burgundy and fired a volley, and in claret 
and fired a volley. We drank the Governor's health and fired an- 
other volley. We had several sorts of liquers, viz. Virginia Eed , 
Wine and White Wine, Esquebaugh, brandy, shrub, rum, cham- 
paign, cavory, punch water, cider, etc. 

"We called the highest mountain Mount George and the one we 
crossed over IMount Spotswood." 

Governor Spotswood, from the fertility of the soil, gave the 
name of Euphrates to the river (now Shenandoah), and he be- 
lieved the same emptied into the great lakes and flowed northward. 

The Governor, upon his return to Williamsburg, instituted the 
Order of the Golden-Shoe, and presented to each of the gentlemen 
accompanying him a small horse-shoe made of gold inscribed with 
the motto : Sic jurat transcenderc monies, "Thus he swears to cross 
the mountains." 

Governor Spotswood, in a letter written in 1716, says: "The 
chief aim of my expedition over the great mountains in 171G was 
to satisfy myself whether it was practicable to come to the lakes." 

The country thus described was a part of Sussex county, the 
western boundary of which was undefined. Spotsylvania was 
formed from Sussex in 1720, Orange from Spotsylvania in 1734, 
all of said counties including the territory now within the bounds 
of this county. 

All this infonuation is necessary to a history of Washington 
county, because AYashington county was formed from the territory 
we are now dealing with, and, for the better reason, that the pro- 
moters of our early settlements and the founders of our early gov- 
ernment came from the Valley of Virginia. 

In the year 1726, two mm named Mackey and Sailings explored 
the Valley of Virginia. 

John Peter Sailings, one of the two explorers of the valley 



40 Southwest Virginia, 17It6-1786. 

above mentioned, was captured by the Indians and passed through 
this immediate section as early as 1726. 

Withers, in his history entitled "Border Warfare," thus de- 
scribes the captivity of Sailings : 

"Sailings," he says, "was taken to the country now known as 
Tennessee, where he remained for some years. In company with 
a party of Cherokees, he went on a hunting expedition to the salt 
licks of Kentuclcy and was there captured by a band of Illinois 
Indians, with whom the Cherokees were at war. He was taken to 
Kaskaskia, and adopted into the family of a squaw, whose son 
had been killed. While with these Indians he several times ac- 
companied them down the Mississippi river, below the mouth of 
the Arkansas, and once to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Spaniards in Louisiana, desiring an interpreter, purchased 
him of his Indian mother, and some of them took him to Canada. 
He was there redeemed by the French Governor of that province, 
who sent him to the Dutch settlement in New York, whence he 
made his way home after an absence of six years. 

The earliest visit to this section of Virginia by an Anglo-Saxon 
of which we have any record or knowledge was made by Dority, a 
citizen of Eastern Virginia, who in the year 1690 visited the Chero- 
kee Indians in their home, south of the Little Tennessee, and 
traded with them. There can be no reasonable doubt that from 
a very early period, long preceding the making of a permanent 
settlement by the white man in this section, many of the citizens 
of Virginia living east of the mountains carried on, in many in- 
stances, an active trade with the Indians living south of the Little 
Tennessee and in Kentucky. 

This section was uninhabitated by the Indians for many years 
previous to the explorations of the white man, and the wilderness 
was full of game of almost all kinds. Their flesh was valuable, 
and the skins and furs taken in one season by a single hunter would 
bring many hundreds of dollars, and thus many daring hunters 
were induced to visit this section long before any white man thought 
of settling the lands. 

In confirmation of this idea Mr. Vaughan, of Amelia county, 
Va., who died in the year 1801, was employed about the year 1740 
to go as a packman with a number of Indian traders to the Chero- 
kee nation. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 41 

The last hunter^s cabin he saw as he traveled from Amelia 
county, Va., to East Tennessee was on Otter river, a branch of 
Staunton river, now in Bedford county. The route he traveled 
was an old trading path following closely the location of the Buck- 
ingham road to a point where it strikes the Stage Road in Bote- 
tourt county; thence nearly upon the ground which the Stage 
Eoad occupies, crossing New River at Inglis' Ferry; thence to 
Seven Mile Ford on the Holston; thence to the left of the road 
which formed the old Stage Road; thence on to the North Fork 
of Holston, above Long Island in Tennessee, crossing it where 
the Stage Road formerly crossed it, and on into the heart of Ten- 
nessee. 

This hunter's trail, or Indian trace, was an old path when he 
first saw it, and he continued to travel the same until 1754, trad- 
ing with the Indians. 

In the year 1730, Jolin and Isaac Van Meter obtained from Gov- 
ernor Gooch, of Virginia, a patent for forty thousand acres of land 
to be located in the lower valley, and this warrant was sold in 1731 
to Joist Hite, of Pennsylvania, who, in 1732, brought his family 
and sixteen other families and located a few miles south of the 
present site of Winchester, Va., and this is generally believed to 
be the first settlement by a white man west of the Blue Ridge. 

Emigration to this new land was rapid, and soon reached beyond 
the confines of Kite's possessions. 

About the time of the Hite settlement John Lewis, Peter Sal- 
lings and Mackey made settlements in the valley. Lewis 

settled on Lewis' creek near the present site of Staunton, Sailings, 
at the forks of James river and Mackey, at Buffalo Gap. 

Within less than one year the population of the country near 
the settlement made by Lewis was considerable, so rapid was the 
migration to the new land. 

The early settlers in this portion of Virginia had to contend 
with titles obtained by individuals and companies for Jarge tract? 
of land, and such grantees were usually favorites of the King or 
of the King's councillors. 

On the 6th of September, 1736, William Gooch, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, issued a patent for the ' ^vlanor of Beverly,'^ 
covering one hundred and eighteen thousand and ninety-one acre; 
of land lying in the county of Orange between the great mountain^ 



42 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

and on the Eiver Sherando, and on September 7, 1736, William 
Beverly, of Essex, became the owner of the entire grant. 

This patent covered most of the fine lands in the Valley of Vir- 
ginia near Staunton and Waynesboro, and soon thereafter Gov- 
ernor Gooch granted Benjamin Borden five hundred thousand acres 
of land situated south of Beverly Manor and on the waters of the 
James and Shenandoah rivers. 

Each of the grants above described was to become absolute, pro- 
vided the patentees succeeded in settling a given number of families 
thereon in the time named in the grant, and as a result the paten- 
tees, Hite, Beverly and Borden, solicited and obtained settlers 
from America and Europe. 

Benjamin Borden, upon the receipt of his grant, immediately 
visited England, and in 1737 returned with a hundred families, 
among whom were the McDowells, Crawfords, McClures, Alex- 
anders, Walkers, Moores, Matthews and many others, the found- 
ers of many of Virginia's distinguished families. 

In 1738, the counties of Frederick and Augusta were formed out 
of Orange. The territories embraced within these two counties in- 
cluded all of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge and was, almost with- 
out exception, a howling wilderness occupied by the Indians and 
wild beasts. It is evident from the statement contained in the act 
establishing Augusta county that there had been a rapid and con- 
siderable increase of the population in the valley. 

The act establishing the county of Augusta provided that the 
organization of the county should take place when the Governor 
and Council should think there was a sufRcient number of inhabi- 
tants for appointing justices of the peace and other officers and 
creating courts therein. 

While the act establishing Augusta county was passed in 1738, 
the county was not organized until 1745. The first court assem- 
bled at Staunton on December 9, 1745, at which time the following 
magistrates- were sworn in, having been previously commissioned 
by the Governor of Virginia — viz. : James Patton, John Buchanan, 
George Robinson, James Bell, Robert Campbell, John Lewis, John 
Brown, Peter Scholl. Robert Poage, John Fiudley, Richard Woods, 
John Christian, Robert Craven, John Pickens, Andrew Pickens, 
Thomas Lewis, Hugh Thompson, John Anderson, Robert Cun- 
ningham, James Kerr and Adam Dickenson. 



Southivest Virginia, 17 If 6-1786. 43 

James Patton was coiumissioiied high sheriff, John Madison, 
clerk, and Thomas Lewis, surveyor of the county. 

It is worthy of note that James Patton, the first slieriff of Au- 
gusta county, was the first man to survey and locate lands within 
the houndaries of Washington county as originally formed, and tlie 
land by him acquired com})osed a considerable part of the best lands 
Avithin this county. 

The idea of offering the dissenters from the C'liureh ol England 
inducements to settle the lands west of the nioimtains had often 
l)een suggested and earnestly advocated l)y many of the promi- 
nent men in the \'irginia Colony, but no move in that direction 
was taken until aljout the time of the first settlement of the lower 
A'alley, at and after which time the Governor and Council of Vir- 
ginia, with Init little hesitancy, permitted the erection of dissenting 
churches in the Valley, and encouraged tlie immigration of settlers 
whenever possible. 

The residt of tliis action was a flood of settlers, emigrants from 
Scotland and Ireland, who came by way of Pennsylvania, mostly 
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in belief. They passed into and settled 
in the Valley, and in a few years the Valley from Harper's Ferry 
to N'ew river was populated with a progressive, lil)erty-loving peo- 
|)le second to none on earth. 

Colonel James Patton, who came from tiu^ north of Irehmd in 
173G, was one of the first and most influential settlers of the Val- 
ley of Virginia. 

In the year 1745, he secured a grant from the Governor and 
Council of Virginia, for one hundred and twenty thousand acres 
of land west of the Blue Eidge, and he and his son-in-law, John 
Buclianan, who was also deputy surveyor of Augusta county, lo- 
cated lands on the James river, and founded and named Buchanan 
and Pattonsburg, villages that were built on the opposite sides of 
the James river, now in Botetourt county. 

In the year 1748, Dr. Thomas Walker, who afterwards, on the 
iOth day of September, 1752, qualified as a deputy surveyor of 
Augusta county; Colonel James Patton, Colonel elohn Buchanan, 
Colonel James Wood and Major Charles Campbell, accompanied 
by a number of hunters, John Fihdlay being of the number, ex- 
plored Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee, and located and 



44 SoutJiioest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

'?nrveyecl a number of very valuable tracts of land by authority of 
the grant to Colonel James Patton. 

We give below a list of the first surveys made on the waters of 
the Holston and Clinch rivers. 

This information i? derived from the surveyor's records 
of Augusta county at Staunton, Va. Each of the above surveys 
is signed by Thomas Lewis, surveyor of Augusta county, and in 
the left-hand corner of the plot, recorded with each survey, are 
written the letters J. B., the initials of John Buchanan, deputy 
surveyor of the county. 

It is evident from tliis record that John Buchanan surveyed the 
several tracts of land first located in Washington county, and that 
he was on the waters of the Indian or Holston river surveying as 
early as tlic 1 1th day of March, 174(). 

It will be observed from an inspection of this list of surveys 
tliat on April 2, 1750, there was surveyed for Edmund Pendleton 
3,000 acres of land lying on West creek, a branch of the South 
Pork of Indian river, which tract of land now lies in Sullivan 
county, Tennessee. 

This tract was patented to Edmund Pendleton in 1756 upon the 
idea tliat tlio Virginia line, when run, would embrace these lands. 

It is worthy of note that these early explorers and the many 
hunters and traders who had previously visited this section called 
the Holston river the Indian river, while the Indians gave it the 
name of Hogoheegee, and the French gave it the name of the 
Cherokee river. 

All of the lands surveyed in this county previously to 1,748 are 
described in tlio surveys as being on the waters of the Indinn river. 
'J'heso explorers returned to their hoanes delighted, no doubt, with 
the excellent lands they had visited, but nothing resulted from their 
efforts save the acquisition of a knowledge of the country. 

At the time Dr. Walker and his associates made their trip of 
exploration above described they were followed as far as New river 
by Thomas Inglis and his three sons, Mrs. Draper and her son and 
daughter, Adam Harman, Henry Leonard and James Burke, pio- 
neers in search of a home in the wilderness. Lands were surveyed 
for each of them, which lands "are described in the respective sur- 
veys as lying on Wood^s river, or the waters of Wood^s river. Here 






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46 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

they made a settlement, the first west of the Alleghany divide and 
the first on Wood's or New river. 

The name given to this new settlement was "Draper's Meadows." 

The surveys, with accomipanying plats for these, the first set- 
tlers on any of the waters flowing into the Mississippi, are exceed- 
ingly interesting and instructive. 

These first settlers were immediately followed by a large num- 
ber of other persons. 

The Alleghany mountains having been crossed and the waters 
fiowing into the Mississippi reached, the pioneer rapidly sought to 
bring the wilderness under his dominion. The first company of 
settlers at Draper's Meadows were at once increased by new ar- 
rivals, and numerous tracts of land west of New river and near 
what were afterwards known as the Lead Mines occupied. Among 
the early settlers in that section of Southwest Virginia were the 
Crocketts, Sayers, Cloyds, McGavocks and McCalls. 

James Burke, with his family, settled in 1753 in what has since 
been known as Burk's Garden, and Charles Sinclair in Sinclair's 
Bottom. Stephen Holston built his cabin within thirty feet of the 
head spring of the Middle Fork of Indian, since called Holston 
river, some time previous to 1748, and thus Burke, Sinclair and 
Holston gave names to the localities of their early settlements. 

A colony of people called "Dunkards" settled on the west side of 
New river near Inglis' Ferry, and in the year 1750 Samuel Stal- 
naker, with the assistance of Dr. Walker and his associates, erected 
his cabin on the Holston nine miles west of Stephen Holston's 
cabin. 

It is worthy of mention in this place that in this year, 1749, 
the commissioners appointed by the Legislatures of Virginia and 
North Carolina continued the boundary line between Virginia 
and North Carolina to a point on Steep Eock Creek,* in this county. 

Dr. Walker and his associates had met Samuel Stalnaker on the 
waters of the Holston in April, 1748, between the Reedy Creek 
settlement and the Holston river, at which time it is evident, from 
a journal kept by Dr. Walker, that Stalnaker told Walker and his 
associates of the Cumberland Gap, and made an engagement with 
Dr., Walker to pilot him upon a trip to Kentucky at a subsequent 
date. 



*Now Tjaurel Fork of Holston river. 



SoutJiivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 47 

The French had established settlements on the waters of the 
Ohio and Mississi])]n rivers, and claimed, by right of discovery 
and occupancy, as territory belonging to the French crown, all 
the lands west of the Alleghany mountains, and were actively as- 
serting their right to all of this territory at all times and by every 
possible means. It is claimed that the French had established a 
fort near the Broad Ford of the Tennessee river, and had opened 
and operated mines in the territory now included in Eastern Ken- 
tucky; and it is well known that the French traders were to be 
found in nearly all of the Indian villages east of the Mississippi 
river and west of the Alleghany mountains. 

The English Government and the American Colonies denied the 
pretensions of the French cro^vn, and looked with jealousy upon 
every movement made by France in the direction of the accom- 
plishment of her claim. 

As a result, on the 12th day of July, 1749, the Governor and 
Council of Virginia granted to the "Ohio Company" 500,000 acres 
of land, to be surveyed and located south of the Oliio river, and 
to forty-six gentlemen, styling themselves the "Loyal Company," 
leave to take up and survey 800,000 acres of land in one or more 
surveys, beginning on the bounds between this State and North 
Carolina and running to the westward and to the north seas to 
include the said quantity, with four years' time to locate said land 
and make return of surveys. 

The "Ohio Company" employed Christopher Gist, one of the 
j)iost noted surveyors of that time, to go, as soon as possible, to the 
westward of the Great Mountains, and to carry with him such a 
number of men as he thought necessary, in order to search out and 
discover the lands upon the river Ohio and other adjoining branches 
of the Mississippi, down as low as the Great Falls thereof, now 
Louisville, Kentucky. 

He was also directed to observe the passes through the mountains, 
to take an exact account of the soil and products of the lands, the 
width and depth of the rivers, the falls belonging to them, the 
course and bearings of the rivers and mountains, and to ascertain 
what Indians inhabitated them, with their strength and numbers. 

Pursuant to his instructions, he set out from the old town on 
ilui Potomac river, in Maryland, in October, 1750, and spent many 
days on the lands south of the Ohio river, in the present State 



48 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

of Kentucky;, he finally came to the Cumberland mountains at 
Pound Gap, at which gap he crossed and passed down Gist's river 
to Powell's and Clinch valleys. On Tuesday, the 7th day of May, 
1751, he came to New river and crossed the same about eight miles 
above the mouth of Bluestone river. On Saturday, the 11th, he 
came to a very high mountain, upon the top of which was a lake 
or pond about three-fourths of a mile long northeast and south- 
west, and one-fourth of a mile wide, the water fresh and clear, 
its borders a clean gravelly shore about ten yards wide, and a fine 
meadow with six fine springs in it. 

From this description it is evident that Gist visited Salt Lake 
mountain, in Giles county, Va., as early as 1751, and found the 
lake as it now is. 

It is evident from this journal that the traditions that we 
so often hear repeated about this lake are nothing more than mythi- 
cal, and that this lake existed as it now is at the time of the earliest 
explorations of the white man. • Colonel Gist then passed south 
about four miles to Sinking Creek and on to the settlements. 

In the meantime the "Loyal Compan}'^' were not idle, but, hav- 
ing employed Dr. Thomas Walker for a certain consideration, 
sent him on the 12th day of December, 1749, in company with 
Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, Henry Lawless and John 
Hughes, to the westward in order to discover a proper place for a 
settlement. A journal of this trip will be found in the Appendix 
to this work, and the reader will find a perusal of this journal ex- 
ceedingly interesting, as Dr. Walker and his assoeiates passed di- 
rectly through what might reasonably be termed the centre of 
Washington county. 

It will be necessary, in speaking of this journal of Dr. Walker's, 
to call the reader's attention to only a few incidents connected 
with the trip, which we will do as briefly as possible. 

On March 15, 1750, they came to the "Great Lick," now the 
present site of the city of Eoanoke, Va., at which place they 
bought corn of Micliael Campbell for their horses, at which time 
Dr. Walker remarks: "This Lick has been one of the best places 
for game in these parts, and would have been of much greater 
advantage to the inhabitants than it has been if the hunters had 
not killed the buffaloes for diversion and the elks and deer for 
their skins." 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-17S6. 49 

It has been the prevailing opinion that there were no buffaloes 
east of the Blue Eidge, and while the Great Lick, or Eoanoke 
City, is west of the Blue Eidge, it is altogether probable that buf- 
faloes in their range did oftentimes travel beyond the mountains; 
at any rate it is known that Colonel Byrd killed buffaloes in 1729 
on the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina and 
south of Eoanoke. 

They thence went up the Staunton river, now called the Little 
Eoanoke river, to William Inglis'. Dr. Walker, at this point, 
notes the fact that William Inglis had a mill which is the fur- 
thest back, except one lately built by the sect of people who called 
themselves of the Brotherhood of Euphrates, or "Duncards," who 
are the upper inhabitants of the New river and lived on the west 
side of the same. 

It is well to note at this point that the present village of Blacks- 
burg is near the locality occupied by William Inglis in 1750. The 
Dunkards spoken of by Dr. Walker lived on the west side of New 
river opposite Inglis' Ferry, several miles above the crossing of 
the Norfolk and Western railroad. Their next stopping point was 
on a small run between Peak Creek and Eeed Creek, or between 
Pulaski city and Max Meadows of the present day. They next ^ 
camped near James McCall's on Eeed Creek, and on the 32d of 
March they reached a large spring about five miles below Davis' 
Bottom, on the Middle Fork of Holston river, where they camped; 
they moved thence down the Middle Fork of Holston, where they 
again camped, and Ambrose Powell and Dr. Walker went to look 
for Samuel Stalnaker and found his camp, he having just moved out 
to settle. They assisted Stalnaker in building his house, and spent 
the Sabbath about one-half a mile below him. On Monday, the 
26th, they left the frontiers of civilization, Stalnaker's settlement 
being the farthest west at that time. Their trip was not eventful 
until the 30th, on which day they caught two young buffaloes, and 
on the 31st they traveled down the Eeedy creek to the Holston 
river at the foot of Long Island, where they measured an elm 
tree twenty-five feet in circumference three feet from the ground. 
They crossed the North Fork of the Holston about one-half a 
mile above the junction of the North and South Fork rivers at 
a ford. At this point they discovered evidences of Indians. They 
found, in the fork between the North and South Forks of Holston 



50 Southivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

rher, five Indian lionses built with logs and covered with bark, 
around which there were an abundance of bones and many pieces 
of mats and cloth. On the west side of the North Fork of Hol- 
ston river they found four Indian houses, and four miles south- 
west of the junction of the North and South Forks of Holston 
river they discovered an Indian fort on the south side of the main 
Holston river. 

On April 2d they left the Holston river and traveled in a north- 
west direction toward Cumberland Gap, passing over Clinch moun- 
tain at Loony's Gap, it is thought. They reached the Clinch river 
above the present location of Sneedsville, in Hancock county, Ten- 
nessee, and on the 13th day of April they reached Powell's river, 
ten miles from Cumberland Gap. It is well to note at this point 
that Ambrose Powell, one of Dr. Walker's companions, cut his 
name upon a tree on the bank of this river, which name and tree 
were found in the year 1770 by a party of fifteen or twenty Vir- 
ginians on their way to Kentucky on a hunting expedition, from 
which circumstance the Virginia Long Hunters gave it the name 
of Powell's river, which name it still retains. On the 13th they 
reached Cumberland Gap, which gap Dr. Walker afterwards named 
Cumberland Gap in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, the son 
of George II, and the commander of the English forces, on the 
16th of April, 1746, at Culloden, where he defeated, with great 
slaughter, the Highland forces, refusing quarter to the wounded 
prisoners. 

On the 17th of April he reached the Cumberland river and 
named it at that time. On the 23d a part of this company was 
left to build a house and plant some peach stones and corn. On 
the 28th Dr. Walker returned to his company and found that 
they had built a house 12x8 feet, cleared and broken up some 
ground and planted corn and peach stones. 

This was the first house built by an Anglo-Saxon in the State 
of Kentucky, and it was used and occupied as late as 1835. The 
location of this house is on the farm of George M. Faulkner, about 
four miles below Barboursville, Ky. They thence traveled in a 
northeast direction, crossing Kentucky river and New river and 
striking the waters of the Greenbrier, and on the 13th day of 
July Dr. Walker reached his home. On this journey they killed 
thirteen buffaloes, eight elks, fifty-three bears, twenty deer, four 



S out Invest Virginia, 1746-1786. 51 

wild geese and about a hundred and fifty turkeys, and could have 
killed three times as much meat if they had wanted it. 

It is to be recollected that this trip and the building of the cabin 
in the wilderness of Kentucky was all in the interest of the "Loyal 
Company/' 

About this time the "Ohio Company" entered a caveat against 
the "Loyal Company/' and the Loyal Company got into a dispute 
with Colonel James Patton, who had an unfinished grant below 
where this company were to begin, and no further progress was 
made by the company until June 14, 1753, 

In the year 1748, Mr. Gray, Mr. Ashford Hughes and others 
obtained a grant from the Governor and Council for 10,000 acres 
of land lying on the waters of the New river, which grant was 
soon afterwards assigned to Peter Jefferson (father of Thomas 
Jefferson), Dr. Thomas Walker, Thomas Merriweather and David 
Merriweather, which lands were surveyed and principally settled 
in the early days of the settlement of this section. 

About the same time the Governor and the Council of Virginia 
granted to John Lewis, of Augusta, and his associates 100,000 
acres of land to be located on the Greenbrier river, and thus the 
English Government sought to displace the French in their efforts 
to settle and hold the lands west of the Alleghany mountains. 

On the other hand, the movements of the English were closely 
watched by the French, who were equally determined to defeat 
them in their aspirations. A company of French soldiers in 1752 
were sent south as far as the Miami river to notify the English 
traders among the Indiana to leave the country, which they re- 
fused to do, and thereupon a fight ensued between the French and 
Indians, in which fourteen Miami Indians were killed and four 
white prisoners were taken, and thus began the contest which re- 
sulted in the loss to France of all her possessions in Canada and 
east of the Mississippi river. 

In April of the year 1749, the house of Adam Harmon, one of 
the first settlers near Inglis' Ferry, on New river, was visited by 
the Indians, and his fm-s and skins stolen. 

*This was the first Indian depredation committed on the white 
settlers west of the Alleghany mountains. 

In the month of November, 1753, the House of Burgesses of 



'Dr. Hale's "Trans-AUeghany Pioneers. 



52 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

Virginia passed an act for the further encouraging of persons to 
settle on the waters of the Mississippi, which act we here copy in 
full: 

1. Whereas, it will be the means of cultivating a better cor- 
respondence with the neighboring Indians if a farther encour- 
agement be given to persons who have settled on the waters of 
the Mississippi, in the county of Augusta; and, whereas, a con- 
siderable number of persons, as well his majesty's natural born sub- 
jects as foreign Protestants, are willing to come into this Colony 
with their families and effects and settle upon the lands near the 
said waters in case they can have encouragement for so doing; and, 
whereas, the settling of that part of the country will add to the 
security and strength of the Colony in general and be a means of 
augmenting his majesty's revenue of quit rents; 

2. Be it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council 
and Burgesses of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby 
enacted by the authority of the same. That all persons l)cing Prot- 
estants who have already settled or shall hereafter settle and reside 
on any lands situated to the westward of the ridge of mountains 
that divide the rivers Roanoke, James and Potowmack, from the 
Mississippi in the county of Augusta, shall be and are exempted 
and diseliarged from the payment of all public county and parish 
levies for the term of fifteen years next following, any law, usage, 
or c\istom to the contrary thereof, in any wise notwithstanding.* 

The English Government were exceedingly anxious to encourage 
the settlements on the waters of the Mississippi and thereby 
strengthen their frontiei's and fortify their claim to the lands lying 
west of the Alleghany mountains, and, in keeping with this desire, 
the Governor and Council of Virginia, on June 14, 1753, renewed 
the grant to the "Loyal Company" and allowed them four years' 
farther time to complete the surveying and seating of said land, and 
on the 6th day of July following Dr. Thomas Walker, their agent, 
proceeded with all convenient speed to survey said land and to sell 
the same to purchasers at three pounds per hundred acres, exclu- 
sive of fees and rights. The basis of the operations of Dr. Walker 
was in Southwest Virginia, and by the end of the year 1754 he had 
surveyed and sold 224 separate tracts of land containing 45,249 
acres, which surveys were made in the name of the several pur- 

*Hen. S., p. 356. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 53 

chasers from him, and many of the said tracts of land were actually 
occupied by settlers. 

During this time James Patton was actively at work surveying 
and selling lands to settlers under his grant from the Governor and 
Council, and the tide of emigration was fast settling towards South- 
west Virginia, when the French-Indian war of 1754-1763 came on, 
which war began in all its fury about this time, and thereby Dr. 
Walker, agent for' the "Loyal Company," and James Patton and 
others were prevented, for the time being, from further prosecuting 
their enterprises in surveying and settling this portion of Virginia. 

In the spring of 1754, numbers of families were obliged, by an 
Indian invasion, to remove from their settlements in Southwest 
Virginia, and these removals continued during the entire war. It 
will be well here to note the fact that the lands held by Stephen 
Holston, James McCall, Charles Sinclair and James Burke, the 
earlier settlers of this portion of Virginia, were held by them under 
what were known at that time as "corn rights — that is, under the 
law as it then stood, each settler acquired title to a hundred acres 
for every acre planted by him in corn, but subsequent settlers, as 
a general rule, held their lands under one of the above-mentioned 
grants. Stephen Holston, who settled at the head spring of the 
Middle Fork of Holston some time prior to 1748, did not remain 
long at this place, but sold his right to James Davis, who, on the 
19th of March, 1748, had John Buchanan, deputy surveyor of 
Augusta county, to survey for him at this point a tract of land con- 
taining 1,300 acres, to which he gave the name of "Davis' Fancy," 
and the descendants of James Davis occupy a portion of this land 
to this day. 

Stephen Holston, when he had disposed of his rights to Davis, 
constructed canoes, passed down the Holston, Tennessee and Mis- 
sissippi rivers to Natchez, Mississippi, and thence returned to Vir- 
ginia? and settled in Culpeper county, where he lived in 1754; af- 
terwards, in 1757, he was captured by the Indians, but, making 
his escape, he returned to the waters of the Holston, and served 
under Colonel Christian upon the expedition to Point Pleasant in 
1774, and in the expedition against the Cherokees in 1776. Many 
of his descendants are to be found in East Tennessee at this time. 

At the beginning of the year 1753 two families resided on Back 
criH'k; James Peed, at Dublin, Va. (from whom Reed creek de- 



54 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

rived its name) ; two families on Cripple creek; James Burk, in 
Bulk's Garden; Joseph and Esther Crockett, at the head waters 
of the South Fork of Holston river; James Davis, at the head 
waters of the Middle Fork of Holston river,' and a family of Dunk- 
ards, by the name of McCorkle, on the west bank of New river 
near Inglis' Ferry. Of these facts we have record evidence. 
Many other families resided west of JSTew river, of whom we have 
no record. 

And thus closes the record of the first efforts made to explore 
and settle Southwest Virginia by the white man. 



Southwest Virginia, 17.1^6-1786. 55 

CHAPTEE IV. 

Southwest Virginia. 

1754-1770. Thus matters stood at the beginning of the year 
1754. Governor Dinwiddie, in this year, dispatched George Wash- 
ington on a mission to the French commander on the Ohio. 
Washington, accompanied by Christopher Gist, arrived at the 
French headquarters, which were situated near the present city 
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he delivered the dispatches 
from Governor Dinwiddie, informing the French commander that 
war was inevitable unless he immediately withdrew from the coun- 
try. 

The French commander denied the right of Governor Dinwiddie 
to give him orders in the premises, and declared his purpose to 
destroy every settlement made by the Virginians in the west. 

To form some idea of the spirit of the American colonies in re- 
gard to the French settlements on the Ohio and their apprehen- 
sions therefrom, Governor Dinwiddie wrote to Earl Granville, in 
1754, that the French intended to build forts, not only on the Ohio, 
but on Greenbrier, Holston and 'New rivers, and the French and 
Indians, he says, are now making incursions among our inhabi- 
tants in Augusta county, driving them from their homes. 

Washington returned to Williamsburg and reported the result 
of his trip, whereupon the Governor of Virginia proceeded to raise 
a regiment under Colonel Joshua Fry and Lieutenant-Colonel 
George Washington. This regiment immediately proceeded to the 
west, and at Kedstone, Western Pennsylvania, they encountered 
a force, composed of Indians and French, which they attacked, kill- 
ing ten and capturing the rest. 

They proceeded to the Great Meadows, halted, and built a fort, 
to which they gave the name of "Fort Necessity." On the 3d day 
of July, 1754, a force of French and Indians, numbering about a 
thousand, under the command of Count de Villiers, vigorously 
assaulted the fort and attempted to take it. The siege lasted for 
nine hours, at the end of which time the French leader sent in a 
flag of truce offering to receive the surrender of the fort upon hon- 



56 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-17SG. 

orable terms, which offer was accepted, and the Virginians marched 
out next morning. 

In the spring of 1755, the American colonies attacked the French 
at Nova Scotia, Crown Point, Niagara and on the Ohio river. 

The attack on the French and Indians on the Ohio was com- 
manded by General Braddock, who had arrived from England 
early in that year with two royal regiments — the Eighteenth and 
Forty-fourth. Virginia sent 800 men to join Braddock, and the 
Virginia troops were commanded by Captains Waggoner, Cock, 
Hogg, Stevens, Poulson, Perrony, Mercer and Stewart. Brad- 
dock marched from Alexandria, Virginia, on the 20th of April, 
1755, with 2,200 men, and on the 9th of July he reached the 
Monongahela river, where his troops fell into an ambuscade. 
Braddock was mortally wounded, and his army put to flight, with 
a loss of 777 men killed and wounded, and had it not been for the 
coolness and courage of Washington and his Virginia troops the 
entire army would have been destroyed. 

The army retreated a hundred and twenty miles into the set- 
tlement, and the whole frontier of Western Virginia was thus left 
open to the ravages of the French and Indians. The French and 
Indians crossed the Alleghany mountains into the valley and to 
New river, killing and scalping, in the most horrible manner, 
men, women, and children without distinction, and thus ended 
the first year of the war. 

On the 21st day of March, 1755, the County Court of Augusta 
county appointed George Stalnaker constable on the waters of the 
Holston and New rivers, and he built a stockade fort at Dunk- 
ards' Bottom, the name of which was, according to some writers. 
Fort Frederick, but there is some doubt about it. 

In the month of February, 1755, William Wright, an ensign, 
who was stationed at Fort Lewis, near Salem, Virginia, by Major 
Andrew Lewis, accompanied by twenty men, marched to the head 
waters of the Holston river for the purpose of protecting the set- 
tlers, but his movements were so slow that he failed to accomplish 
anything, and, upon his return, he was reprimanded by the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia. 

The New river settlers were not permitted to escape the ravages 
of the Indians and the French, for on the 8th day of July, 1755, 
the day before Braddock's defeat, a considerable party of Shaw- 



Southwest Virginia, 17JfG-17S6. • 57 

nese Indians fell upon this settlement and wiped it out of exist- 
ence. Colonel James Patton, Casper Barrier, Mrs. George Draper 
and a child of John Draper were killed. Mrs. William Inglis and 
her two children, Mrs. John Draper and Henry Leonard were taken 
prisoners. Mrs. Inglis was taken to Ohio, thence to Bone Lick, 
Kentucky, whence she and an old Dutch woman made their es- 
cape, and, after many days, returned to her home on New river. 

This invasion occurred on Sunday, the 8th day of July, 1755. 
Colonel Patton, accompanied by William Preston, was on a visit 
to the New river settlement, and was detained by sickness at the 
house of William Inglish. William Preston, William Inglis and 
John Draper were away from the house at the time. Mrs. John 
Draper, who first discovered the Indians, ran to the house, secured 
her infant child, and attempted to make her escape by the opposite 
side of the house, but she was detected by the Indians, and, having 
one of her arms broken, the child fell to the ground. She then 
took the child in the other arm and continued her flight, but was 
soon overtaken, the child taken from her, and its brains dashed 
out upon a log by the Indians. Colonel Patton, at the time of the 
attack, was seated at a table writing, with his broad sword beside 
him. He immediately arose, and killed two of the Indians be- 
fore he was shot by others beyond his reach. 

The Indians then plundered the premises and began a hasty re- 
treat. 

On their retreat they passed the house of an old man by the 
name of Philip Barger, whom they killed by severing his head 
from his body, and carried it off in a bag. It was several days 
before efforts were made to overtake the enemy and rescue the 
prisoners, as Vause's Fort was the nearest point from which help 
could be obtained. 

Mrs. Inglis and the other prisoners were carried by the Indians 
to Ohio. Mrs. Inglis was absent from her home about five months, 
when, in the month of December, 1755, she reached the house of 
Adam Harmon on New river, whence she was taken to a small fort 
at Duhkards' Bottom, on the west side of New river, wliere she was 
found on the next day by her husband and her brother. The other 
captives, with but few exceptions, were either rescued or redeemed 
and returned to their homes after many years. 

The body of Colonel James Patton was buried at Draper's 



58 Southwest Virginia, 17 Jf 6-17 86. 

Meadows. Colonel John Buchanan sent a company of men to 
pursue the Indians, but they did not succeed in overtaking them, 
and thus occurred the first Indian massacre of the white inhabitants 
of Southwest Virginia. 

About ten miles west of where Christiansburg now stands, and 
near the former residence of Captain Jacob Kent, about two and 
a half miles east of Lafayette and on the head waters of the Eoa- 
noke river, there stood a small fort that in those days was known 
as Vause's Fort, and this was the nearest place of refuge for the 
settlers on New river. 

In the fall of the year 1755, about a hundred French and Indians 
came upon the New river, and assaulted and captured this fort 
and killed or carried into captivity twenty-four persons, not a 
single person escaping. This was a private fort, .constructed by 
the settlers for their own protection, and was built of logs and 
easily captured. 

As best I can ascertain, at the time of this invasion James 
Burk, who had settled in Burk's Garden in the year 1753, was 
captured with his entire family; they were all either killed or car- 
ried into captivity. 

A register of the persons who were killed, wounded, and taken 
prisoners in the years 1754, 1755, and 1756 on the New river, 
Eeed creek, and Holston rivers has been preserved, and is as fol- 
lows: 

1754, Stephen Lyon, Holston Eiver, killed. 
October, John Godman, Holston Eiver, killed. 

Benjamin Harrison, Holston Eiver, killed. 

1755, Burk, Holston Eiver, prisoner; escaped. 

May 3. Mary Baker, Holston Eiver, wounded. 

June 18. Samuel Stalnaker, Holston, Eiver, prisoner; escaped. 

Samuel Hydon, Holston Eiver, prisoner. 

Adam Stalnaker, Holston Eiver, killed. 

Mrs. Stalnaker, Holston Eiver, killed. 

A servant man, Holston Eiver, killed. 

Mathias Counie, Holston Eiver, killed. 
June 19. Michael Houck, Holston Eiver, killed. 
July 3. James McFarland, New Eiver, killed. 

John Bingeman, New Eiver, killed. 

Mrs. Bingeman, New Eiver, killed. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 59 

Adam Bingeman, New Eiver, killed. 

John Cook. New Eiver, killed. 

Henry Lin, Kew Eiver, killed. 

A young child, New Eiver, killed. 

Nathaniel Welshire, New Eiver, wounded. 

Dutch Jacob, New Eiver, wounded. 

His wife. New Eiver, prisoner ; escaped. 

Frederick Stern, New Eiver, wounded. 

Mrs. Bingeman, Jr., New Eiver, wounded. 

Mrs. Davis, New Eiver, wounded. 

Isaac Freeland, his wife and five children, New Eiver; 
prisoners. 

Bridgeman's son and daughter and a stranger. New 
Eiver; prisoners. 
July 12. Lieutenant Wright and two soldiers, Eeed Creek, killed. 
30. Colonel James Patton, New Eiver, killed. 

Caspar Barrier, New Eiver, killed. 

Mrs. Draper and one child. New Eiver, killed. 

James Cull, New Eiver, wounded. 

Mrs. English (Inglis) and her two children. New Eiver, 
prisoners; escaped. 

Mrs. Draper, Jr., New Eiver, prisoner. 

Henry Leonard, New Eiver, prisoner. 
Aug. 12. Morris Griffith, Vause's Fort, prisoner ; escaped. 
1756, Eobert Looney and a Dutchman, Eeed Creek, killed. 

Feb. John Lee, Eeed Creek, killed. 

March. Michael Motes, Eeed Creek, killed. 

Patrick Smith, Eeed Creek, killed. 

Moses Mann, Eeed Creek, prisoner. 

Valentine Harm an and one son. New Eiver, killed. 

Andrew Moses, New Eiver, killed. 
June 25. Captain John Smith, Fort Vause, prisoner; escaped. 

Peter Looney, Fort Vause, prisoner ; escaped. 

William Bratton, Fort Vause, prisoner; escaped. 

Joseph Smith, Fort Vause, prisoner. 

William Pepper, Fort Vause, prisoner. 

Mrs. Vause and two daughters, a negro, and two young 
Indians and a servant man. Fort Vause, prisoners. 

Ivan Medley, and two daughters. Fort Vause, prisoners. 



60 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

James Bell, Fort Vause, prisoner. 
Christoi^her Hieks, Fort Vause, prisoner. 

Cole, Fort Vanse, prisoner. 

Graham, Fort Vanse, prisoner. 

Benj. Daries, Fort Vanse, prisoner. 
Lient. John Smith, Fort Vanse, killed. 
John Tracey, Fort Vanse, killed. 

John English, killed. 

Mrs. Mary English, Fort Vanse, prisoner. 

Wm. Robinson, Fort Vanse, wounded. 

Thomas Eobinson, Fort Vanse, wounded. 

Samuel Eobinson, Fort Vanse, wounded. 

Robert Pepper, Fort Vanse, wounded. 

John Robinson, Fort Vanse, killed. 
1757. John Walker, Fort Vause, prisoner."* 

Feb. 

In July of this year, Richard Pearls, who was located on the Hols- 
ton river carrying on a trade with the Cherokee Indians, addressed a 
letter to the Governor of Virginia requesting a grant for the lands 
on the Long Island in the South Fork of the Holston river. In 
reply the Governor encouraged Pearis to believe that he could obtain 
a grant, and wrote him as follows : "I am surprised the inhabitants 
on Holston river should submit to be robbed by a few Indians. Let 
the Chickasaw know that I greatly approve of his conduct and have 
a real esteem for him." This last sentence in the Governor's letter 
had reference to a Chickasaw warrior who had resented the murder 
of one of the white settlers. 

At the time of which we write the Virginia colonists, and the 
Cherokee and the Chickasaw Indians were exceedingly friendly, and 
through the agency of Richard Pearis, who was a great favorite with 
the Indians, the GoverncNr of Virginia subsequently sought to en- 
list the Cherokee and the Chickasaw Indians in the war against the 
French and the Northern Indians. 

SANDY RIVER EXPEDITION. 

For the purpose of avenging the massacre of the settlers upon the 
ISTew river, the Governor of Virginia enlisted a hundred and thirty 
Cherokee Indians, to whom were joined four companies of the Rang- 

*Col. Wm. Preston diary in L. C. Dnaper Manuscript. 



Southwest Virginia, 17 Jf 6-17 86. 61 

ers of West Augaista, for the ijurjiose of invading and destroying the 
Shawnese towns at the mouth of the Big Sandy and on the Ohio 
river. The command of this expedition was given to Major Andrew 
Lewis. 

This force consisted of two hundred and sixty-three white men, 
cominanded by Captain Peter Hogg, with forty men; Captain 
William Preston, with thirty men; Captain John Smith, with 
thirty men; Captain Samuel Overton, with forty men; Captain 
Obadiah Woodson, with forty men; Captains Eobert Breckenridge, 

Archibald Alexander, John Montgomery and Dunlap 

commanding eighty-three volunteers, and Captain Richard Pearis 
commanding a hundred and thirty Cherokee and Chickasaw In- 
dians. 

This force was rendezvoused at Port Lewis, near Salem, Va., 
whence they marched in Feb. 1756, for the Indian towns. They 
traveled from Port Lewis, near Salem, to the New river, which they 
crossed at the Horseshoe Bend; they thence descended the New 
river to the mouth of Wolf creek, thence up Wolf creek to its 
source, thence to Bluestone river, thence to the head of North Fork 
of Sandy, which they reached on the 28th day of February, 1756; 
thence down the Sandy to the Great Burning Springs, at which point 
they saw the rawhides of several buffaloes hnng upon bushes to dry. 
At this time provisions became very scarce and a famine was threat- 
ened, but this little army was saved by the bravery and firmness of 
Major Lewis. 

The army then proceeded from the Burning Springs to the banks 
of the Ohio, where they remained for two days. Seeing no evidences 
of Indians, they began to retrace their steps, and by the time they 
had reached the Burning Springs on their return, the hunger of the 
men had become so great that the hides of the buffaloes, which had 
been hung upon the bushes, were cut into tugs, and the men de- 
voured them as the only means of preserving life. It is said that 
from this circumstance the Tug Fork of Sandy river received its 
name. Thus this expedition ended disastrously for the settlers. 
The Indians were correspondingly elated and immediately ad- 
vanced upon the settlements east of the Alleghany mountains, com- 
mitting many murders and carrying off many prisoners. 

The Governor and Council of Virginia agreed to build a number 
of forts for the protection of the western settlements, and, among 



62 Southivest Virginia, 171,6-1786. 

the number. Port Vaiise, which Ivad been destroyed by the Indians 
a short time previous. The building of tlie fort was to l.r; under the 
supervision of Captain Peter Hogg, and was to be al least one hun- 
dred feet square in the clear, with stockades at least sixteen feet long, 
and was to be garrisoned by seventy men. Immediately upon the 
erection of this new fort, many of the settlers returned to their 
homes at and near the fort. About this time companies of Eangoi's 
were organized for the purpose of running down and capturing 
marauding Shawnese Indians wherever they should be found. A 
Journal of one of these expeditions has been preserved, which we 
here publish as a relic of the past. 

An extract of a Journal "Concerning a march that Capt. Eobert 
Wade took to the New Elver" in search of Indians, Saturday, 13th 
of August, 1758: 

Capt. Robert Wade marc't from Mayo fort, with 35 men, in 
order to take a Eange to the New Eiver in search of our Enemy In- 
dians. We marcht about three miles that Day to a Plantation, 
Where Peter Eentfro formerly Lived and took up Camp, where we 
continued safe that night — Next morning being Sunday, we con- 
tinued to march about three or four miles, and one Francis New 
returned back to the Fort, then we had 34 men besides the Capt — 
We marcht along to a place called Gobeling Town, where w^e Eat 
our Brakefast — & so continued our march till late in the after- 
noon, and took up Camp at the Foot of the Blew Ledge where we 
continued safe that night — Next morning being Monday, the 14th, 
Inst, we started early and crossed the Blew Ledge and Fell upon 
a branch of the Little Eiver, called Pine Creek, 

We followed the sd: Creek down to Little Eiver, and crost the 
Little Eiver & went to Francis Easons' Plantation where we con- 
tinued that night. Our hunters brought a plentiful supply of Ven- 
ison — Next morning being tuesday the 15 Inst, we marct. down to 
Eichard Eattlecliffs' plantation on the Meadow Creek, where we 
continued that night — Next morning being Wednesday the 16th. 
Inst, we Sent our Spyes and hunters to Spy for Enemy Signs, & to 
hunt for provisions. But the body of the Company Tarryed there — 
At Night they came in with a plenty of Venison, but could not dis- 
cover any fresh sign of the Enemy — Next morning Thursday the 
17th Inst, we sent out hunters as usual, & in the afternoon some 
of them came in & informed us that they had seen signs of Indians 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 63 

at Drapers' Meadow, that had been a catching of horses that Day, 
and that they had gone a straight course for Blackwater — upon 
that we began to get in Eeadyness to persue them next morning — 
but one of our men not coming in that night disappointed us — 
next morning Being Fryday the 18th. Inst. Some of the men were 
sent to Look for the man that was Lost — & the Eest remained there, 
for we counted it imprudent to Leave the Place before we knew 
what had become of the lost man — so we tarryed Till the Day was 
so far Spent that we could not make anything of a march that Day. 
So the Capt. said that he and some more men would go to view the 
sign, and See what they could Discover, The Capt. and Wm. Hall 
and Adam Hermon, and two or three more went off & Left the men 
under trj Command and ordered that we should be in Eeadyness for 
a march as soon as he returned — Soon after the Captain was Gone, 
the man that was Lost Came in & Informed us that he had been lost 
in a Creek of the Little Eiver — But when the Captain came to the 
place where the sign was Seen, he Tels us that he saw a Shoe track 
among them, which caused them to believe that it had been white 
men after their horses — So the Captain nor none of the men, that 
was with him returned that night. But went a hunting — Next 
morning being Saturday 19th Inst, the Captain not coming gave 
us a great deal of Uneasyness — tho we Bore it with so much pa- 
tience as we could 'till about noon, for we lay under great appre- 
hensions of Danger — I ordered the men to keep a Verry Sharp Look 
out, and Likewise to be in order to march next morning, by Sun 
Eise, — I was Determined to stay that night & if the Capt: did not 
come, to march off after him — Soon after we had come to a con- 
clusion about it Some of the men Spyed five Indians Very near to 
us, for the place where we was, was growoi up with weeds so that we 
could not Se them, nor they see us 'till thay came Yerry near us — I 
was a Lying down in the house when I heard the news — I Eased up 
and presented my Gun at one of the Indians, But I heard some of 
our Company that was in another house. Cry out. Don't Shoot — 

I Stopt at that and askt them what they were & I beleive they said 
Cheroke, but Stood in amaise, & Eeason they had, for I suppose 
there was 20 Guns presented at them, we went up to them & 
Examined them — they said they were Cherokees, I made signs to 
them to show me their Pass, But they had none, — They had with 
them 5 head of horse Kind ft Skelps, that appeared to be white 



64 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

mens — 4 of the horses appeared as tho' they had been Lately taken 
iip^ bnt the other was very poor — The Indians began to make ready 
to go off, but I made Signs to them that they must not Go that 
night. But they seemed very intent to go — but we would not agree to 
it — Some of the Company insisted to fall upon them and Kill them, 
for they said they believed they were Shawnees, & that they were 
Spyes- — and was doubtful that they had a superior number Some 
where nigh — But I said I was determined to keep them till the Capt: 
came, without they would go by forse, and if they would we would 
fire upon them — 2 of the men went off after the Capt : who soon met 
some of the Company, who told them that they had been hunting 
& that the Capt: would soon be in; who accordingly came soon after 
-. we informed him how things had happened in his absence & in 
vvha^ manner the Indians appeared ; that they had no pass and that 
they had white Skelps — After Capt: heard the opinion of the peo- 
ple, he past sentence of Death upon them ; but there was one Abra- 
ham Dunkleberry, hunter that we let off who said they were Chero- 
kees, yet he agreed that they were Eogues ; which seemed to put the 
Capt: to a stand, but we had their Guns taken from them & a guard 
kept over them that night — ^next morning Being Sunday 20th Inst, 
upon what Dunkleberry had said the Capt : let them have their Guns 
& let them go off — which displeased some of the Carolina men — so 
much that they swore if they were not allowed to kill them, they 
would never go Eanging again, for they said it was to no purpose 
to Eang after the Enemy, & when they had found them, not to be 
allowed to kill them — which you must think is very hard for us to 
be compel to Eang & then let the Enemy have Liberty to Kill some 
of us, before we Dare to Kill them — at that Bate we may all be 
KilFd, and never Kill an Indian, for if there is enough of them to 
overcome us, then they are Enemy, But if we are too numerous for 
them they are friends. 

Upon consideration of their having no pass, nor white man, & by 
reason of their steal of horses, they did not appear any waise Like 
friends, so the Captain told them to be Easy, and after Dunkleberry 
was gone, we would go after them and Kill them. So Dimkleberry 
packt up his skins to go off & we marcht after the Indians — ^we 
overtook them and past them. Because the Capt: said they were 
in such order that we could not kill them all, but would wate for a 
better opportunity — They were going toward the New Eiver — so the 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 65 

men that had been acquainted Knew of 2 fords & they Emagined 
they would cross at the upper ford — But we lade an Ambushkaide 
at each ford^, the Capt : & myself and a partie of men at the upper 
ford, and a partie of men at the Loer ford & the Capts : orders were 
to fire at them as they Crost the Eiver — But after we had placed our- 
selves and sat awhile 2 or 3 of the men came from the Loer Ford & 
informed us that two of the Indians had Crost at the Loer ford, and 
they did not fire at them because they were not altogether. So the 
Capt. and the men went towards the Loer Ford & as we went along 
we saw 4 of the Indians; we did not fire at them; the Capt: con- 
cluded to ly by awhile and let them all get together & then follow 
them and kill them — soon after the other Indians followed them, 
the Capts : orders was for 12 of the best men to follow them and 
Kill them and the remainder of the Company to go to the Diinker 
Fort which was about half a mile below us & the Capt: took such 
men as he Lik'd and set down to conclude how we should follow 
them — the way the Capt prop')sed was to Dog them till night and 
then ly By till the Brake of Day and then Fall upon them and Kill 
them — he said if we fired upon them in the day, some would get 
away — but we did not approve of his skeems, and told him the 111 
Consequence that attended it, but he still insisted upon that way of 
proceeding — At length we desired him to go down to the fort with 
the rest of the men, & let us go after the Indians, to which he con- 
sented, and went off to the fort and we after the Indians — 

The men that followed them Arere Adam hermon, Daniel Her- 
mon, Wm. Hall, Eic'd Hall, Jun'r, Tobias Clapp, Philip Clap, 
Joseph Clapp, Benj. Angel, David Currie, Eic'd Hines, James Lyon 
& my self — 13 of us — We followed them and overtook them at a 
peach orchard — jest as they were leaving it, we watched our oppor- 
tunity, and fired at them and followed them up till we Killed 4 of 
them, and wounded the other — we Skelpt them that we killed, & 
then followed the other — he bled verry much, he went into the 
river and to an Island — but we could not find where he went out — 
some of the men left looking for him, and some went after the 
Indian horse — but myself and 4 or 5 more, we Sercht the Island 
till late in the afternoon, & when we came to the Fort the Capt. and 
men were a handling the Indians' goods & after a while the Capt: 
told me we were all to be sworn — so we Tarried there that night — 
Next morning being Monday 21st Inst, we packed up in order to 



66 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf-6-1786. 

march homeward, for signs of Indians was plenty & we had but lit- 
tle ammiition but before we left the fort, we were Sworn — the words 
of the oath Do not remember exactly, but the Intent of the thing 
was not to tell that we ever heard them say that they were Chero- 
kees without required to swere — so left the fort and marcht till dark 
& took up Camp at a Plantation upon a Branch of the Little Eiver. 
We continued there that night— next morning, being Tuesday the 
22nd inst. we marcht from that place to Blackwater — we eat din- 
ner with them marcht off again Bob Joneses Plantation on the head 
of Pig Eiver, and Tarryed there that night, next morning being 
Wednesday 23d. imst. they delayed time in the morning, and we had 
nothing to eat, the Company had some rum to drink, but myself 
and four more left the Company and went across to Goblingtown 
& came to Mayo Fort — that night — the Captain and the Eest of the 
men tells us that they came to Hickey's fort and that night and 
next day to Mayo fort — I remember no more worth making a remark 
of so Courteous Eeader I Eem'n 

Yrs. &., John Echols. 



Captain Wm. Preston and Captain Wm. Byrd each organized a 
company of Eangers. A number of the men that enlisted under 
them afterwards settled in Washington county and their names were 
as follows : 

Capt. Wm. Preston's Co. Capt. Wm. Byrd's Co. 

Wm. Johnston, Michal Morrison, Sergt., 

Benj. Estill, John Crank, 

George Martin, Thomas Brumley, 

John Johnston, John Donnelly, Fifer, 

Jas. Clendenen, Eichard Staimton, Sergt., 

John Vance, John Lemons, 

Solomon Kendrick, Eichard Chapman, 

Christopher Ackland, Francis Farmer, 

Eobert Eutherford. Henry Dooley, 

Drury Puckett, Sergt., 

John Eoss. 

On the 29th of July, 1756, a Council of War assembled at Staun- 
ton, by direction of the Governor of Virginia, to determine at what 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 67 

points forts should be built along the frontier for the protection of 
the settlers. 

The Council was composed of Col. John Buchanan, Samuel Stal- 
naker and others, of which Council Wm. Preston acted as clerk. 
There can be no doubt that Captain Samuel Stalnaker represented 
the Holston settlement and that it was at his request that the 
stockade fort was built at Dunkards' Bottom, on New river, and at 
Davis' Bottom, at the head waters of the Middle Fork of Holston 
river. 

In the year 1757, Dickenson's Fort, situated on the Cow Pasture 
river, in Augusta county, was raided by the Indians, and several chil- 
dren, playing under the walls outside the fort, and a number of men 
were captured. So careless were the commanding officers that the 
Indians reached the very gates of the fort before they were discov- 
ered. At the time of this raid upon Dickenson's Fort, the Indians 
captured a boy who was destined in after years to play such a part 
in the history of Washington county as would justly entitle him to 
the appellation of "Father of Washington County," so intelligent 
and active were his efforts in the settling of our county and in the 
protection of its earlier inhabitants ; and this boy was Arthur Camp- 
bell, who had volunteered as a militiaman for the protection of the 
frontiers. On the day of the raid he, with others, had gone to a 
thicket near by in search of plums, when the party was fired upon 
from ambush by Indians, and Campbell was wounded and cap- 
tured. He was carried by the Indians to Ohio and thence to the 
Lakes, where he was detained for a number of years, when he suc- 
ceeded in making his escape to an English force and returned to his 
home. Upon his return he addressed a letter to the Governor of 
Virginia, detailing the circumstances of his capture and detention, 
and thereby made such an impression upon the Governor that he 
was afterwards granted a thousand acres of land in consideration of 
his services. 

Governor Dinwiddle was so much in earnest about enlisting the 
Cherokee and other Southern Indians in the war against the French 
and Northern Indians, that, in the year 1756, he dispatched the 
Hon. Peter Eandolph and Wm. Byrd to their country as commis- 
sioners, to negotiate formal treaties with them. The commissioners 
returned to Williamsburg and, either before or at that time, a treaty 
was made with the Indians, by which it was stipulated that the 



68 Southwest Virginia, 17 Jf 6-1786. 

Indians were to send reinforcements to aid the Colonies, in consid- 
eration of the agreement of the Government to build a fort in their 
country. On the 24th day of April the Governor directed Major 
Andrew Lewis to enlist sixty men who could use the saw and axe, 
and to proceed to the Cherokee country with all speed and erect a 
fort as agreed upon. Major Lewis did not start for the Indian 
country until June of that year, and on the 20th day of August, 
wrote the Governor that he might expect a reinforcement of a hun- 
dred and fifty Cherokees and fifty Catawba Indians at an early date. 
Major Lewis, with his force, passed down the waters of the Hols- 
ton to the southern bank of the Tennessee river, at the head of navi- 
gation, about thirty miles from the present city of Knoxville. He 
there built a fort, which he called Fort Loudon, in honor of the 
Governor of Virginia. In September of that year. Major Lewis 
addressed another letter to the Governor of Virginia, in which he 
stated that the Indians were very much pleased with their fort, and 
that the Governor might expect a reinforcement of four hundred ^ 
Indians. This letter also contained a request from the Indians 
that the Governor would send a small garrison of white men to hold 
the fort during the absence of their warriors. By the 18th day of 
September, 1756, Captain Samuel Overton and his men, who had 
accompanied Major Lewis, had returned to their homes, leaving 
Major Lewis in the Indian country to bring in the reinforcements. 
In the fall of that year Major Lewis returned from the Chero- 
kee country, accompanied by seven warriors and three women, great- 
ly to the surprise of the Governor. The French in the meantime 
had bought off the Indians. 

Fort Loudon was then estimated to be more than a hundred miles 
from tr.c nearest settlement, was at a place at all times difficult to 
roach, even in times of peace, and beyond the reach of help from 
the settlements in the event of war with the Cherokee Indians. This 
fort was by order of the Earl of Loudon, then Governor of Virginia, 
garrisoned by two hundred troops from Britain. 

The Indians allured artisans into Fort Loudon by donations of 
land, which they caused to be signed by their own chief and by 
Governor Dobbs of North Carolina. There was a rapid increase of 
the number of settlers, as a result, at and in the vicinity of Fort 
Loudon. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 69 

In the year 1756 the 'New Eiver Lead Mines were discovered by 
Col. John Chiswell, at which time operations were begun. 

•Col. Chiswell had been engaged in mining operations near Fred- 
ericksburg, Va., for some time previous to this time, and was an 
intimate friend of Col. Wm Byrd. 

A1)out this time the lead mines were discovered, and four hun- 
dred acres of land, including the mines, were surveyed on October 
1st, 3 781, and a patent was issued to Chas. Lynch, trustee for the 
lead mine company, by Beverly Eandolph, Governor of Virginia, on 
the 7th day of May, 1791, in consideration of £3 10s. sterling, paid 
by Chas. Lynch, and of pre-emption Treasury warrants Nos. 2393 
and 2356. As far as I can ascertain this property was owned orig- 
inally by Col. Wm. Byrd, Col. John Chiswell and John Robinson, 
afterwards Treasurer of Virginia. Col. John Chiswell, some time 
previous to 1775, killed a man in Cumberland county, Virginia, and 
while awaiting trial he committed suicide.* 

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the Legislature of 
Virginia directed the Committee of Safety for Pincastle county to 
lease these mines, at a reasonable rent, and if they could not lease 
them, to impress them for fthe use of the State. The committee, 
acting according to their authority, took possession of the lead mines, 
whether by lease or by impressment I cannot say, anc' the S-tate of 
Virginia, through her agents, Chas. Lynch and Capt. Calloway, 
operated these mines during the Revolutionary War, and paid rent 
therefor to the representatives of John Robinson and Wm. Byrd, 
and to John Chiswell, the son of Col. John Chiswell. 

A considerable village had grown up around Fort Loudon by the 
year 1760. 

British arms were successful at every" point in the contest with the 
French and Indians in 1758-1760. Canada was conquered and the 
French expelled from it in 1759, and Fort Du Quesne was cap- 
turned by General Forbes and the French expelled from the Ohio 
Valley. 

The result of the expulsion of the French from Canada and the 
Ohio Valley proved very disastrous to the western settlements of the 
Southern Colonies. "The scene of action was only changed from 



•Ninth Henning's Statutes, pages 73-237. 
fVol. 14 Call's Rep., page 17. 
t 2 H. & M. Rep., page 22. 



70 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

one place to another, and the baneful influence of those active and 
enterprising enemies that had descended the Ohio soon manifested 
itself in a more concentrated form among the upper Cherokees, the 
interior position of whose country furnished facilities of immediate 
and frequent intercourse with the defeated and exasperated French- 
men, who now ascended the Tennessee river and penetrated to their 
mountain fastnesses. An unfortunate quarrel with the Virginians 
helped to forward their intrigues and opened an easier access into 
the towns of the savages. The Cherokees, as before remarked, had, 
agreeably to their treaties, sent a number of their warriors to assist 
in the reduction of Du Quesne. Eeturning home through the back 
parts of Virginia, some of them, who had lost their horses on this 
expedition, laid hold on such as they found running at large and 
appropriated them. The Virginians resented the injury by killing 
twelve or fourteen of the unsuspecting warriors and taking several 
more prisoners. This ungrateful conduct from allies, whose fron- 
tiers they had defended and recovered, aroused at once a spirit of 

deep resentment and deadly retaliation The 

flame soon spread through the upper towns. The garrison at Fort 
Loudon, consisting of about two hundred men under the command 
of Captains Demere and Stuart, was, from its remote position from 
the white settlements, the first to notice the disaffection and to suffer 
from it. The soldiers, as usual, making excursions into the woods 
to procure fresh provisions, were attacked by them and some of them 
killed. From this time such dangers threatened the garrison that 
every one was confined within the small boundary of the fort.*' . . 

^ "All communication with the settlements 

across the mountains from which they received supplies was cut off, 
and the soldiers, having no other sources from which provision could 
be procured, had no prospect left them but famine or death. Par- 
ties of the young warriors rushed down upon the frontier settle- 
ments, and the work of massacre became general along the borders 
of Virginia and North Carolina."* 

The Governor of North Carolina undertook to pacify the Indians, 
and negotiated a treaty with six of their head men, but this treaty 
did not express the sentiments of the Indians and they paid no 
attention to it. 

Numerous companies of Rangers were organized to patrol the 

*Ha7Wood. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-l7S6. 71 

frontiers and pimish the Indians for any depredations they might 
commit, and every means was exhausted to hring al)out peace, but 
the Indians were not disposed to listen to any terms of accommo- 
dation and continued tlicir (h'[)i'e(hvii(ms wlieriivci' and wlienever 
possible. 

The Governor of Virginia directed Col. William Byrd to proceed 
to Fort Tjondon with a hody of backwoodsmen from N'irginia, nutn- 
lu'ring about six liundred men, and to relieve the garrison. Col. 
y^yvd organized his force and began the march. I)ut was greatly 
hampered by lack of men and supplies. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Col. Byrd was an expei'icnced eani' 
paigner, he occupied most of his time in building block-houses and 
roads, and accomplished nothing in tlie way of relieving Fort Lou- 
don. 

He crossed New river tO' the lead mines and iunnediately pro- 
ceeded to build a fort about two miles south of the present site of 
Max Meadows on the McAdam road near the home of James Mc- 
Gavock, to which he gave the name of Fort Chiswell, in honor of 
his friend. Col. John Chiswell, who was at that time working the 
lead mines which had been discovered some time previously. 

From Fort Chiswell Col. Byrd marched to the Long Ishiiid in the 
So'uth Fork of Holston river, opening a road from Fort (!hiswell to 
Long Island. 

At this point, Col. Byrd and his men spent the winter of 17G0. 
During the winter Col. Byrd erected a fort upon a beautiful level on 
the north bank of the South Fork of the Holston river, nearly oppo- 
site the upper end of Long Island, to which fort he gave the name 
of Fort Robinson, in honor of John Eobinson, the partner of him- 
self and Col. John Chiswell in the ownership of the lead mines. 
This fort was built upon an extensive plan. The walls were suffi- 
cient in thickness tO' withstand Ihc I'oice of a small cannon shot. 
There were proper bastions, and the gates were spiked with large 
nails so that the wood was entirely covered.* 

At tlic lime this fort was buill, il was sujiposcd (bat tbc Ijong 
Islaiul was in Virginia, tiie boundai'y line between \'ii-ginia and 
Nortli Cai'olina not having l)een run farther west than Stcrp Ifock. 

And Ibus to Virginians may be assigned Ibc lionor of baving 

*roit Patrick Henry, 1770. 



72 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

erected Fort Loudon and Fort Eobinson, the first Anglo-American 
forts within the present State of Tennessee. 

While engaged in bnilding Fort Robinson Col. Byrd was joined 
by five luindred men from North Carolina under the command of 
Col. Waddell. 

As a result of the course pursued by Col. Byrd, great dissatisfac- 
tion arose among his men, and Col. Byrd resigned, and was suc- 
ceeded in the command of the force, now numbering about twelve 
hundred men, by Col. Stephens. 

In the meantime, the distant garrison at Fort Loudon, consist- 
iiig O'f two ]nind]-ed men, was reduced to the dreadful alternative of 
perishing by hunger or submitting to the mercy of the enraged 
C'lierokees. The Governor of South Carolina, hearing that the Vir- 
ginians had undertaken to relieve it, for awhile seemed satisfied and 
anxiously waited to hear the news of that happy event, biit so remote 
was the fort from any settlement and so difficult was it to march 
an army through a barren wilderness, where every thicket con- 
ceal'ed an enemy, and to. carry, at the same time, sufficient supplies 
along with them, that the Virginians had not succeeded in giving 
them assistance. Provisions being entirely exhausted at Fort Lou- 
don, the garrison was upon the point of starving. For a whole 
month they had no other subsistence than the flesh of lean horses 
and dogs and a small supply of Indian beans, procured stealthily for 
them by some friendly Cherokee women. The officers had long en- 
deavored to encourage the men with the hope of succour ; but now, 
being blockaded night and day by the enemy and having no resource 
left, they threatened to leave the fort and die at once by the hands 
of the savages, rather than perish slowly by famine. In this extrem- 
ity the commander was obliged to call a council of war to' consider 
what was proper to be done. The officers were all of the opinion 
that it was impossible to hold out longer. They therefore agreed to 
surrender the fort to the Cherokees on the best terms that could be 
obtained from them. For this purpose, Capt. Stuart, an officer of 
great sagacity and address and much beloved by those of the Indians 
who remained in the British interest, procured leave to go to Chota, 
one of the principal towns in the neighborhood, where he obtained 
the following terms of capitulation, which were signed by the com- 
manding officers and two of the Cherokee chiefs. 

"Tliat tbe garrison of Fort Loudon march out with their arms 



Southwest Virginia, nJt^6-n86. 73 

and drums, each soldier having as much powder and ball as his officer 
shall think necessary for the march, and all the baggage he may- 
choose to carry; that the garrison be permitted to march, unmolested, 
to Virginia or Fort Prince George, as the commanding officer shall 
think proper, and that a number of Indians be appointed to escort 
them and hunt for provisions during the march; that such sol- 
diers as are lame, or by sickness disabled from marching, be received 
into the Indian towns and kindly used until they recover, and then 
be allowed to return to Fort Prince George; that the Indians do 
provide for the garrison as many horses as they conveniently can for 
the march, agreeing with the officers and soldiers for payment ; that 
the fort, great guns, powder, ball and spare arms be delivered to the 
Indians without fraud or further delay, on the day appointed for 
the march of the troops.* 

"Agreeably to this stipulation, the garrison delivered up the fort 
and marched out with their arms, accompanied by Oconostota, 
Judds' friend, the Prince of Chota, and several other Indians, and 
that day went fifteen miles on their way to Fort Prince George. 

A-t night they encamped upon a plain about two miles from Tali- 
quo, an Indian town, when all their attendants, upon one pretext or 
another, left them ; which the officers considered as no good sign, and 
therefore placed a strict guard around their camp. During the 
night they remained immolested, but next morning about break of 
day a soldier from an outpost came running in and informed them 
that he saw a number of Indians, armed and painted in the most 
dreadful manner, creeping among the bushes and advancing in order 
to surround them. Scarcely had the officer time to order his men 
to stand to their arms, when the savages poured in upon them a 
heavy fire from different quarters, accompanied by the most hideous 
yells, which struck a panic into the soldiers, who were so much en- 
feebled and dispirited that they were incapable of making any effect- 
ual resistance. Captain Demere, with three other officers and about 
twenty-six privates^ fell at the first onset. Some fled into the woods 
and were afterwards taken prisoners and confined among the towns 
in the valley. Captain Stuart and those that remained were seized, 
pinioned and brought back to Fort Loudon. Ko sooner had Attakul- 
lakulla heard that his friend, Mr. Stuart, had escaped, than he has- 
tened to the fort and purchased him from the Indian that took him, 

*Haywood. 



74 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

giving him his rifle, clothes and all he could command by way of 
ransom. He then took possession of Capt. Demere's house, where 
he kept his prisoner as one of his family and freely shared with 
him the little provisions his table afforded, imtil a fair oppor- 
tunity should offer for rescuing him from the hands of the savages, 
but the poor soldiers were kept in a miserable state of captivity for 
some time and then redeemed by the province at great expense. 

"While the prisoners were confined at Fort Loudon, Oconostota 
formed the design of attacking Fort Prince George. To this bold 
undertaking he was the more encouraged, as the cannon and am- 
munition surrendered by the garrison would, under direction of 
French officers who were near him, secure its success. Messengers 
were therefore dispatched to the valley towns requesting their war- 
riors to meet him at Stickoee. 

"By accident, discovery was made of ten bags of powder and a 
large quantity of ball, that had been secretly buried at the fort to pre- 
vent their falling into the enemy's hands. This discovery had nearly 
proved fatal to Captain Stuart; but the interpreter had such presence 
of mind as to assure the incensed savages that these warlike stores 
were concealed without Stuart's knowledge or consent. The sup- 
ply of ammunition being sufficient for the siege, a council was held 
at Chota, to which the captive Stuart was taken. Here he was re- 
minded of the obligations he was under for having his life spared, 
and as they had determined to take six cannon and two cohorts 
against Fort Prince George, the Indians told him he must accom- 
pany the expedition, manage the artillery and write such letters to 
the commandant as they should dictate to him. They further in- 
formed him that if the officer should refuse to surrender, they had 
determined to burn the prisoners, one by one, before his face and 
try whether he could be so obstinate as to hold out while his friends 
were expiring in the flames. 

"Captain Stuart was much alarmed at his present situation and 
from that moment resolved to make his escape or perish in the 
attempt. He privately communicated his design to Attakullakulla 
and told him that the thought of bearing arms against his country- 
men harrowed his feelings, and he invoked his assistance to accom- 
plish his release. The old warrior took him by the hand, told him he 
was his friend and was fully apprised of the designs of his country- 
men, and pledged his efforts to deliver him from danger. Attakulla- 



Soutluvest Virginia, 1746-1786. 75 

kiilla claimed Captain Stuart as his prisoner and resorted to strata- 
gem to rescue him. He told the other Indians that he intended to 
go a hunting for a few days and to take his prisoner with him. 
Accordingly they departed, accompanied by the warrior's wife, his 
brother and two soldiers. The distance to the frontier settlements 
was great and the utmost expedition was necessary to prevent sur- 
prise from Indians pursuing them. Nine days and nights did they 
travel through a dreary wilderness, shaping their course by the sun 
and moon, for Virginia. On the tenth they arrived at the banks of 
the Holston river, where they fortunately fell in with a party of three 
hundred men, sent out under the command of Col. Byrd for the 
relief of Fort Loudon. On the fourteenth day the Captain reached 
Col. Byrd's camp on the frontiers of Virginia. His faithful friend 
Attakullakulla was here loaded with presents and provisions and 
sent back to protect the unhappy prisoners till they should be ran- 
somed and to exert his influence with the Cherokees for the restora- 
tion of peace.'^* 

It will be observed that Fort Loudon was defended by twelve great 
guns. It cannot be explained how the cannon had been transported 
to Fort Loudon as early as 1756. They could not have been brought 
down the Ohio and up the Tennessee, for the French were in pos- 
session of the mouth of the Tennessee. The only plausible ex- 
planation that can be given is that these cannon were carried across 
the mountains from Augusta county when reinforcements were sent 
to Fort Loudon, and then along Indian trails upon pack horses. It 
is possible that these cannon were brought from Fort Lewis to the 
head waters of the Holston and carried down the same in boats or 
canoes to the mouth of the Holston, and thence up the Little Ten- 
nessee to Fort Loudon. 

It is sad to trontemplate the fate of the occupants of this the first 
Anglo-American fort established in Tennessee. 

It does not appear that the fort at Long Island was permanently 
occupied at this time. About this time, large numbers of hunters 
from Eastern Virginia, allured by the report of the abundance of 
game and the prospect of gain in the western wilderness, organized 
themselves into companies, and hunted throughout Southwest Vir- 
ginia, East Tennessee and Eastern Kentucky. 

The first company of hunters who visited this section, as far as 

*Haywood. • ' 



76 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

I can ascertain, was a company organized by Elisha Wallen (from 
whom Wallen's Creek and Wallen's Eidge received their names, as 
well as Wallen's Station in Lee county), accompanied by Scaggs, 
Blevins, Cox and others. They remained eighteen months, during 
which time they hunted in Clinch and Powell's Valleys in Virginia, 
and Carter's Valley in Tennessee, and went as far as Laurel moun- 
tain in Kentucky. 

About the same time Daniel Boone, accompanied by several hunt- 
ers, visited the Holston and camped the first night in what is now 
known as Taylor's Valley. On the succeeding day, they hunted down 
the South Fork of Holston river and traveled thence to what was 
thereafter known as Wolf Hills, where they encamped the second 
night, near where Black's Fort was afterwards built. It is interest- 
ing to note at this point that Daniel Boone and his companion, im- 
mediately after nightfall, were troubled by the appearance of great 
numbers of wolves, which assailed their dogs with such fury that it 
was with great difficulty that the hunters succeeded in repelling their 
attacks and saving the lives of their dogs, a number of which were 
killed or badly crippled by the wolves. The wolves had their home 
in the cive that underlies the town of Abingdon. The entrance to 
this cave is upon the lot now occupied by the residence of Capt. 
James L. White, and it was from this incident that Abingdon re- 
ceived its first name, Wolf Hills. Boone and his companion re- 
mained at Abingdon for a short while, during which time they dis- 
agreed and separated, Boone taking the Indian trail leading to Long 
Island, and ISTathaniel Gist, his companion, following the Indian 
trail to Cumberland Gap. They did not meet again upon this trip. 

On Boon's creek in East Tennessee was found a tree upon which 
was found the following inscription : "D. Boon cilled a bar on this 
tree in the year 1760"; and near Long Island in Tennessee a tree 
was found in recent years upon which was the following inscription : 
"D. Boon killa bar on this tree 1773." 

A block containing the last inscription was taken from this tree 
and is now in possession of Mrs. James W. Preston, of Abingdon, 
and establishes the fact that Daniel Boone was upon the waters of 
the Holston as early as 1760, and again in 1773. 

A treaty of peace was concbided between the French and English 
at Fontainbleau, in 1762, by which the English acquired Canada 
and that portion of the Mississippi Valley east of that river, but 




Daniel Boone and Boone Trees. 



'^'8 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

peace was not concluded with the Indians until the next year. The 
Indians had become accustomed to bloodshed and greatly detested 
the Anglo-American settlers. They were greatly exasperated by the 
cession of Canada to the English and at the French for deserting 
them. 

The Indians detested the Anglo-American settlers for the very evi- 
dent reason that they asserted title to all the lands lying upon the 
M^estern waters, were building forts at various places upon the fron- 
tiers and manning them with British troops, and because their set- 
tlers were occupying the favorite hunting grounds of the Indians. 
The Indians, being deprived of the more moderate counsel of their 
French allies, therefore became more brutal and savage in their con- 
duct towards the settlers, and so active and intelligent were the 
Indians in conducting their campaigns against the settlements that 
all the land lying along the waters of the Mississippi was depopulated 
by July, 1763, except a small settlement at Draper's Meadows, on 
New river. The condition of the country at that time is best de- 
scribed by a letter of Col. Wm. Preston, which letter is here pub- 
lished. 

The letter is dated Greenfield, 27th July, 1763. The writer 
says : "Our situation at present is very different from what it was 
when we had the pleasure of your company in this country. All the 
valleys of Eoanoke river and along the waters of the Mississippi are 
depopulated, except Captain English with a few families on the New 
river, who have built a fort, among whom are Mr. Thompson and his 
family, alone remaining. They intend to make a stand till some as- 
sistance be sent them. Seventy-five of the Bedford militia went out 
in order to pursue the enemy, but I hear the officers and part of the 
men are gone home, and the rest gone to Eeed creek to help in the 
family of James Davis and in two or three other families there that 
dare not venture to travel. 

"I have built a little fort in which are eighty-seven persons, twenty 
of whom bear arms. We are in a pretty good posture of defence, 
and with the aid of God are determined to make a stand. In five or 
six other places in this part of the country they have fallen into the 
same method and with the same resolution. How long we may keep 
them is uncertain. No enemy have appeared here as yet. Their 
guns are frequently heard and their footing observed, which makes 
us believe they will pay us a visit. My two sisters and their families 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 79 

are here and all in good health. We bear our misfortunes so far with 
* * * and are in hopes of being relieved I have a thousand 
things * * * Captain Christian can't wait * * * i give 
you joy." (The asterisks indicate parts of the letter torn out.) 

In the year 1760, a party of Indians, numbering eight or ten, 
crossed the Blue Eidge and murdered a number of people in Bedford 
county, took several women and children prisoners and returned by 
way of New river. 

A man in the New river settlement, while searching for stray 
horses, discovered the Indians encamped -about six miles from the 
New river fort, of which information was given to William Inglis, 
who gathered sixteen or eighteen men and proceeded to attack the 
Indians, about daybreak the next morning. ■ A considerable battle 
followed, in which one white man and seven Indians were killed, the 
rest of the Indians making their escape. Capt. Inglis and his men 
secured all the provisions and plunder of the Indians. 

The western settlements for ten years enjoyed comparative peace 
from the Indians. The only trouble they had to contend with was 
from parties of thieving Indians that occasionally visited the settle- 
ments. The British Government previously to 1763 claimed the 
lands lying west of the Alleghany mountains by right of the discov- 
ery of John Cabot made in 1497, and at no time recognized the 
claims of the Indian inhabitants to these lands. 

In the treaty concluded with France in 1762, while France ceded 
to England all her rights in this territory, still no provision was 
made for extinguishing the Indian title thereto, and the Indians 
denied the right of France to cede England these lands. 

In Marcli, 1764, a company of Indians visited the home of David 
Cloyd, about five miles west of the present Fincastle, Va., and 
tomahawked Mrs. Cloyd, killed John Cloyd, destroyed the entire 
household, and carried off a large sum of money that belonged to 
David Cloyd. Mrs. Cloyd lived until the next morning and told 
all the circumstances connected with the raid. Before dying she 
told how an Indian had taken up a cob and wiped the blood from 
her temples, exclaiming "Poor old woman !" 

This company of Indians were pursued by a company of militia 
under Capt. James Montgomery, and one of the Indians was killed 
on John's creek about thirty miles from Cloyd's house, with £137 
18s. on his person. A dispute arose among the militia as to the 



80 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

ownership of the money and it was deposited in the hands of Capt. 
James Montgomery until the matter should be decided. 

We here insert a copy of the court records, which best explains 
the matter. 

In Augusta County Court, August Term, 1766. 

David Cloyd Plaintiff, 

vs. Recover goods taken by Indians. 
James Montgomery, Defendant. 

We agree that a party of Indians made an Irruption into the 
Colony, attacked the Plaintiff's House, rifled it and bore off up- 
wards of £200 in gold and silver and several household goods and 
negi'oes. 

We agree that a party of the militia pursued the enemy and over- 
took them on John's creek, a branch of the James river, at the dis- 
tance of 30 or 35 miles from the Plaintiff's House, and attacked 
and killed one of the number. 

We agree that upon searching the Indian's Budgett a quantity of 
gold, some dollars and pieces of small silver were found, which 
upon being weighed amounted to the sum of £137 18s. 

We agree that the money found in the budgett of the Indians 
consisted of the same coins which the Plaintiff was known to have 
in his house when plundered by the Indians. 

We agree that after the money was recovered from the Indians a 
dispute arose among the militia to whom the money of right be- 
longed, whether it should be delivered to the Pltff. who was deemed 
to have been the owner of it before it fell into the hands of the 
Indiana, or whether the militia were entitled to it as having recov- 
ered it from them, upon which dispute that sum of money was 
lodged in the hands of the Defendant to be by him kept till that 
point should be settled. 

We agree that the Plaintiff made an offer of 30 shillings to each 
of the men who had assisted in the pursuit of the Enemy. 

We agree that a part of the Company of Militia made an offer 
to the Plaintiff of delivering up his negroes and household goods 
if he woiild allow them the money. 

We agree that the Defendant paid the sum of money out of his 
hands to the Militia and that several of them returned their divi- 
dends to the Plaintiff amounting to the sum of £106.17.2. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 8l 

We agree that the Plaintiff paid to several of the captors who 
returned him their dividends the sum of 30s. the premium by him 
before offered for their service. 

We agree that if the law be for the Plaintiff that Judgment be 
entered for him for the sum of £31.0.10, if the Law be for the 
Defendant we agree that Judgment be entered for him. 

Gabriel Jones^ Atty. for Pltff. 
Peter Hogg^ Atty. for Deft. 

We have no further account of Indians invading Southwest Vir- 
ginia, until the year 1764, at which time a party of Indians came 
up Sandy and on to New river, where they divided, one party go- 
ing towards the settlements at Roanoke and Catawba, the other to 
the settlement on Jackson river. The company of Indians that 
went towards the Eoanoke settlement were accidentally discovered 
by Captain Paul and a company of twenty men, at midnight, on the 
New river, near the mouth of Indian creek. Capt. Paul's men fired 
upon the Indians, killing three and wounding many others; the 
rest fled and escaped. It is hard to depict the effect of these terri- 
ble scenes upon the settlers of Western Virginia. Among the pri- 
soners rescued by Capt. Paul was a Mrs. Green, who knew Capt. 
Paul and recognized his voice. She was mistaken for an Indian 
squaw by one of Capt. Paul's men, who was in the act of tomahawk- 
ing her, when she called the name of Capt. Paul, wnich saved her 
alive. 

She was asked why she made no resistance; to which she replied, 
"I would as soon die as not ; my husband is murdered, my children 
Blain, my parents are dead ; I have not a relative in America, every- 
thing dear to me is gone. I have no wishes, no hopes, no fears. I 
would not rise to my feet to save my life." 

The English Government was exceedingly anxious to secure peace 
with the Indians, and this year Col. Boquet published a royal 
proclamation forbidding the whites to settle or hunt west of the 
Alleghany mountains; which read as follows: "And we do strictly 
enjoin and require all persons whatsoever, who have, either will- 
fully or inadvertently, seated themselves upon any lands within the 
Countries above described (West of the Alleghany mountains), or 
upon any other lands which not having been ceded to, or purchased 
by us, are still reserved to said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to 



82 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

remove themselves from said settelments." This proclamation was 
issued in October, 1764, but it failed to accomplish the object in 
view, and thereupon, in the year 1765, two armed movements were 
made into the Indian Territory, the one to Lake Erie and the other 
to the Muskingum. • Two treaties Vere made with the Indians in 
the autumn of this year, one at Niagara and the other at the Mus- 
kingum. The treaty signed at the Muskingum was negotiated by 
Col. Boquet with the Delaware and Shawnese Indians. At the 
time of the signing of this treaty, Col. Boquet received from the 
Indians two hundred and six prisoners, ninety Virginians from 
West Augusta and one hundred and sixteen Pennsylvanians. 

And thus was concluded at the end of ten years' of hard fighting 
the French-Indian war, which began in 1754. 

If the British Government was candid in the promulgation of 
the proclamation of 1763, she thereby admitted the claims of the 
Indians, and accomplished nothing as a result of the ten years' war 
with the French and Indians just closed. 

After the publication of this proclamation, the citizens of the 
Colonies became criminals when the}', in any way, trespassed upon 
any of the lands on the waters of the Mississippi. Nevertheless, 
the frontier hunters and the western settlers proceeded with their 
explorations as if that proclamation had never been issued, and 
some historians go as far as to say that even the leading public 
men of that day did not consider this proclamation binding, but as 
only intended to appease the apprehensions of the Indians, but in 
this opinion we cannot join. 

Whatever may have been the intention of the proclamation, it is 
certain that its effect was to greatly retard the settlements of the 
lands west of the mountains. 

The "Loyal Land Company'' on the 25th day of May, 1763, peti- 
tioned the Governor and Council for a renewal and confirmation 
of the grant made to them for 800,000 acres of land by the Gov- 
ernor and Council of Virginia in 1749, but their petition was de- 
nied, upon the ground that they were restricted by his Majesty's 
instructions from renewing or confirming the grant. From this 
action of the Governor and Council of Virginia, it may be well 
said, all the surveys made upon the waters of the Holston and 
Clinch rivers by James Patton, Dr. Thomas Walker and others, 
and all the patents issued therefor were void, for the reason that 



Southwest Virginia, llIfG-llSe. 83 

the King of England had no right to grant to any of liis subjects 
lands belonging to the Indians. 

Nevertheless, Dr. Walker, agent for the "Loj^al Land Company/' 
and the devisees of Col. James Patton, immediately proceeded to 
survey and sell lands upon the waters of the Holston and Clinch 
rivers, under their grants, as if they had never been restrained 
from so doing by the proclamation of 1763 and by the action of the 
Governor and Council of Virginia, and by the 16th day of Decem- 
ber, 1773, Dr. Walker, as agent for the "Loyal Company," had 
actually surveyed and disposed of to purchasers 1,756 tracts of land 
containing 156,164 acres; and this, in addition to the lands sur- 
veyed in the years 1753-'54 — making a total of 201,554 acres out 
of the 800,000 acres granted. 

In the year 1766, Dr. Walker, as agent for the "Loyal Com- 
pany," caused advertisements to be distributed through several 
of the States, north and south, requesting all persons who had 
contracted for any of the company's land and were driven off their 
settlements in the former war, to return and claim the same or it 
would be sold to others. The Legislature of Virginia, in the fall 
of the year 1778, confirmed the acts of Dr. Walker in the premises 
to the extent stated, but declined to allow the company any fur- 
ther time or to survey any further lands under this grant. At 
the same session of the General Assembly of Virginia William Pres- 
ton and William Thompson, executors of James Patton, deceased, 
were authorized to complete the grant of 120,000 acres of land 
made by James Patton, under his grant, and to execute deeds to 
the purchasers therefor. 

Nathaniel Gist, a noted Indian trader, in the year 1761, pur- 
chased from the Cherokee Indians the Great Island lying in the 
Holston river, known as Long Island, and claimed the same, 
under his grant from the Indians, and in the year 1777 he peti- 
tioned the Legislature of Virginia to confirm the title thereto to 
him. AVhat action the Legislature took upon this petition cannot 
be ascertained, but it may be presumed that the Legislature de- 
clined his request, as on the 24th day of June, 1776, the General 
Assembly of Virginia, with the approval of the Governor, "Resolved, 
That no purchase of lands within the chartered limits of Virginia 
shall be made under any pretense whatever, from any Indian tribe 
or nation, without the approval of the Virginia Legislature." 



84 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

This island was a favorite resort of the Indians, and seemed 
to have been anxiously sought after by Kichard Pearis and Na- 
thaniel Gist, probably two of the best Indian spies and hunters we 
read of in our early history. From the conclusion of the French- 
Indian war in December, 1764, until February 13, 1770, nothing 
of importance occurred beyond the visits of the Long Hunters and 
the surveyors for the land companies, a few settlements being 
made. 

In the year 1765, John Campbell, who afterwards became clerk 
of the County Court of Washington county, visited the waters of 
the Holston with Dr. Walker, and purchased for his father, David 
Campbell, and himself, from John Buchanan, a large tract of land 
near the head waters of the Holston river, containing 740 acres, 
called "Eoyal Oak,''* and, being the same tract of land surveyed 
for John Buchanan on the 14th day of October, 1747. 

Among the settlers that came this year (1768) was Joseph Mar- 
tin, a daring and enterprising backwoodsman. He was accom- 
panied by a band of from twenty to thirty men, and led them to 
Powell's Valley, now in Lee county, Va., where they erected a fort 
upon the north side of a creek, near two fine springs of water, 
which fort and creek were thereafter called Martin's Fort and 
Martin's Creek. The shape of the fort was a parallelogram which 
enclosed about one-half an acre of ground. There were some five 
or six cabins built about twenty feet apart, with strong stockades 
between them, and in these stockades there were port-holes. Here 
they cleared the land and planted corn and other vegetables. In 
the latter part of the summer of this year the Indians broke them 
up, and the settlers returned to the waters of the Holston. Mar- 
tin's Fort was not occupied after the Eevolutionary War. 

Several years thereafter John and Arthur Campbell, accom- 
panied by their sister, Margaret, came out and settled at Eoyal 
Oak, and in the year 1769 David Campbell, the father, with his 
wife and sons, James, David, Eobert and Patrick, and his daugh- 
ters, Mary, Martha, Sarah and Ann, came out and settled at the 
same place. 

In the year 1766, a party of hunters visited the Clinch Valley, 
and two of their number, Carr and Butler, decided to remain. 
They built a cabin at a place afterwards known as "Crab Or- 



*Near Marion, Va. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Ji.6-1786. 85 

chard/' about three miles west of Tazewell Courthouse. In the 
year 1769, Carr separated from Butler and settled on a beautiful 
piece of land two miles east of Tazewell Courthouse. 

While many prospective settlers visited this section previously 
to 1769, but few permanent settlements were made because of the 
fact that the Indians claimed, and the English Government ad- 
mitted their right to all the lands lying west of the mountains, 
but the frontiers were lined with . prospective settlers anxious for 
an opportunity to take possession of and settle the new land. Great 
numbers of emigrants were impatiently waiting along the fron- 
tiers for an opportunity to make a rush for new homes on the 
waters of the Mississippi. 

The British Government recognized the fact that it could not 
much longer restrain the people and protect the Indians in their 
rights, and early in the spring of 1768 Sir William Johnson was 
directed by the home government to negotiate a treaty with the 
Delaware and the Shawnese Indians. John Stuart, the superintend- 
ent of Indian affairs, about the same time was directed to negotiate 
a treaty with the Southern Indians, extinguishing their rights to 
the much-desired land. Sir William Johnson, pursuant to order, 
appointed a Congress for the meeting of the Six Kations with the 
commissioners of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, at Fort 
Stanwix, near Oswego, New York, on October 24, 1768. The Con- 
gress met pursuant to order, and on November 5, 1768, a treaty 
was negotiated with the Indians, by which they conveyed unto the 
British Sovereign, Lord King George III, all of a certain tract of 
land situated in North America at the back of the British settle- 
ments, the deed being in the words and figures following, to-wit : 

To ALL to whom these presents may come, or niay concern: We 
the Sachems & Chiefs of the Six United Nations and of the Shaw- 
nese, Delawares, Mingoes, of Ohio and other dependent Tribes, on 
behalf of ourselves and the rest of our several Nations, the Chiefs 
and Warriors who are now here convened by Sir William Johnson, 
Baronet, His Majesty's Superintendent of our Affairs, send greet- 
ing. Whereas His Majesty was graciously pleased to propose to us 
in the year 1765, that a Boundary line should be fixed between the 
English and us, to ascertain and establish our limits and prevent 
those encroachments of which we have so long and so loudly com- 
plained, and to put a stop to the many fraudulent advantages 



86 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

which had been so often taken of us in Land affairs, which Bound- 
ary appearing to lis as a wise and good measure, we did then agree 
to a part of a line and promised to settle the whole finally whenso- 
ever Sir Wm. Johnson should be fully empowered to trade with us 
for that purpose. And whereas his said Majesty has at length given 
Sir William Johnson orders. Sir William Johnson has convened 
the Chiefs and Warriors of our respective Nations, who are the true 
and absolute proprietors of the lands in question and who are here 
now to a very considerable number, and whereas many uneasinesses 
and doubts have arisen amongst us, which have given rise to appre- 
hension that the line may not be strictly observed on the part of 
the English, in which case matters might be worse than before, 
which apprehensions together with the dependent state of some of 
our Tribes, and other circumstances which retarded the settlement 
and became the subject of some debate. Sir Wm. Johnson has at 
length so far satisfied us as to induce us to come to an agreement 
concerning the line, which brought to a conclusion. The whole 
being explained to us in a large assembly of our people, and before 
Sir William Johnson, and in the presence of his Excellency the 
Governor of New Jersey, the Commissioners for the Provinces 
of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and sundry other gentlemen, by 
which line, so agreed upon, a considerable tract of country along 
several provinces is to be thus ceded to his Majesty which we are 
induced to and do ratify and confirm to his said Majesty, from the 
expectation and confidence we place in his royal goodness, and he 
will graciously comply with our humble request, as the same is 
expressed in the speech of the several Nations addressed to his Ma- 
jesty through Sir William Johnson, on Tuesday the first of the pres- 
ent month of November, wherein we have declared our expectations 
of the continuance of his Majesty's favor, and our desire that our 
ancient engagements be observed and our affairs attended to by 
the officer who has the management thereof, enabling him to dis- 
charge all these matters properly for our interest. That the lands 
occupied by the Mohocks around their villages, as well as by any 
other Nation affected by this our cession, may effectually remain 
to them and to their posterity, and that any engagements regard- 
ing property that they may now be under, may be prosecuted and 
our present grants deemed valid on our parts, with the several other 
humble requests contained in our speech. And whereas at the set- 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 87 

tling of the said line, it appears that the line described by his 
Majesty's order, was not extended Northward of Oswego, or to 
the Southward of Great Kanawha Elver, we have agreed to con- 
tinue the line to the Northward, on the supposition that it was omit- 
ted by reason of our not having come to any determination con- 
cerning its course at the Congress held in 1765, inasmuch as the 
"line to the Northward became the most necessary of any for pre- 
venting the encroachments at our very towns and residences, and 
we have given this line more favorable to Pennsylvania for the 
reasons and considerations mentioned in the treaty. We have like- 
wise continued it South to Cherokee Elver,"* because the same is 
and we do declare it to be our true bounds with the Southern In- 
dians, and that we have undoubted right to the country as far south 
as that Elver, which makes our cession to his Majesty much more 
advantageous than that proposed. 

Now THEREFORE KNOV^^ YE^ that we, the Sachems and Chiefs 
beforementioned, native Indians and proprietors of the lands here- 
inafter described, for and in behalf of ourselves and the whole of 
our Confederacy, for the consideration hereinbefore mentioned 
and also for and in consideration of a valuable present of the sev- 
eral articles in use and among the Indians, which, together with a 
large sum of money, amounting in the whole to the sum of £10,460 
7s 3 pence, sterling, to us now delivered and paid by Sir William 
Johnson, Baronet, his Majesty's Sole Agent and Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs, for the Northern Department of America, in the 
name and on behalf of our Sovereign Lord, George Third, by the 
grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, De- 
fender of the Faith, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, 
we the said Indians have for us, our heirs and successors, granted, 
bargained, sold, released and confirmed, and by these presents, do 
grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm, unto our said Sovereign 
Lord, King George Third, all that tract of land situated in North 
America at the back of the British settlements bounded by a line 
which we have now agreed upon, and do hereby establish as the 
boundary between us and the British Colonies in America, begin- 
ning at the mouth of the Cherokee or Hogohegee Elver, where it 
empties into the Eiver Ohio, and running from thence along the 
Southern side of tlie said Eiver to Kittanning, which is above Fort 



*Holstoii river. 



88 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Pitt, from thence by a direct line to the nearest fork of the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna, thence through the Alleghany Moun- 
tains along the Southern side of the said West Branch until it 
comes opposite to the mouth of a creek called Tiadgton, thence 
across the West Branch, and along the South Side of that 
creek and along the North side of the Burnett Hills to a creek 
called Awandae, thence down the same to the East side of that 
Eiver to Oswego, from thence East to the Delaware Eiver, and up 
that River to opposite where Tianadhera flows into the Susquehanna, 
thence to Tianahedra and up the West side thereof, and the West 
side of its West Branch to the head thereof, and thence by a direct 
line to Canada Creek, where it empties into the Wood Creek at the 
West End of the carrying place, beyond Fort Stanwix, and extend- 
ing Eastward from every part of the said line as far as the lands 
formerly purchased so as to comprehend the whole of the lands or 
settlement, except what is within the Province of Pennsylvania, to- 
gether with the hereditaments, and appurtenances to the same be- 
longing or appertaining in the fullest and most ample manner, 
and all the Estate, Right, Title, Interest, Property, possession, 
Benefit and claim and demand, either in law or equity, of each and 
every one of us, in and of the same, or any part thereof, to have and 
to hold, the whole lands and premises hereby granted, bargained, 
sold, released and confirmed as aforesaid with the hereditaments 
and appurtenances thereunto belonging, under the reservations 
made in the Treaty, unto our Sovereign Lord, King George Third, 
his heirs and successors to and for his and their behoof forever. 

In witness whereof, we the Chiefs of the Confederacy, have 
hereunto set our marks and seals at Fort Stanwix, the 5th day of 
November, 1768, in the 9th year of his Majesty's reign. 

Signed, Sealed and delivered, 

In presence of 

Sir William Franklin, Gov. N. J. 

Fred Smith, Chief Justice, 

Thos. Walker, Commiss'r from Va. 

Richard Peters, ) of the Council, 
James Tilghman, j 

His 
Texanasore, or Abraham, [L. S.] 

Mark. 



Conaquieso, 



Sugnaregsora, 



Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 
His 

Mark. 

His 

Mark. 



89 



Blunt or Chenughita, 



Tigaya, 



Gostrave, 



His 
Mark. 

His 
Mark. 

His 
Mark. 



[L. S.] 



[L. S.] 



[L. S.] 



[L. S.] 



[L. S.] 



This Congress was attended by 3,200 Indians of the different 
tribes composing the Six Nations, and thus the title of the North- 
ern Indians to all the territory included within Washington coun- 
ty was extinguished. 

The Confederacy of the Six Nations claimed, by right of con- 
quest, title to the lands thus ceded. About the year 1685 this Con- 
federacy of Indians overran and conquered all the country south- 
wards from the Ohio as far south as Georgia and as far west as the 
Mississippi. An immense territor}^, 1,200 miles long and 600 miles 
broad. 

It will be observed from an inspection of this deed that Dr. 
Thomas Walker was the Virginia Commissioner at this Congress, 
and he was beyond question interested in the successful negotiation 
of this treaty, not only in behalf of Virginia, but to a greater 
extent in behalf of the "Loyal Land Company," of which he was a 
part owner and the agent. Nothing was of greater importance to the 
''Loyal Land Company" than the extinguishment of the title of the 
Indians to the lands on the western waters, out of which they had 
a grant for 800,000 acres of land, and from the prosecution of their 
work in surveying, settling and selling the same, they had been re- 



90 ' Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

strained and prohibited by the King's proclamation in 17G3, and 
by the action of the Governor and the Council of Virginia. 

About the same time John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian 
Affairs in the South, concluded a treaty with the Cherokee Indians 
in the absence of Dr. Walker, by which the British Crown acquired 
the right to all the land lying east of a straight line passing by 
Chiswell's mine, on the eastern bank of the Great Kanawha* Eiver, 
and from Chiswell's mine on the eastern bank of the river in a 
straight line to the confluence of the Great Conhoway in Ohio. 
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs communicated the result of 
the treaty to the Governor of Virginia by letter, which letter is 
as follows: 

Hard Labor, Oct. 17, 1768. 
Sir : 

I have the honor to acquaint you in obedience to his Majesty's 
commands, on the 13th curr't, I met at this place all the principal 
Chiefs of the upper and lower Cherokee Nations, and on the 14th 
by his Majesty's royal authority concluded the Treaty with said 
Indians, ratifying the cession of land lying within the Provinces of 
South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia by them to his Ma- 
jesty and His heirs forever, and confirming the Boundary line 
marked by the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, ac- 
cording to the several agreements entered into with said Indians. 
The line now ultimately confirmed and ratified by said Treaty was 
as follows : 

Prom the place called Towahilie, on the Northern Branch of the 
Savannah Eiver, a North 50 degrees East course in a straight line, 
to a place called Dewisses corner, or yellow water, from Dewisses, 
or yellow water, a North 50 degrees East course in a straight line to 
the south bank of Eeedy Eiver, at a place called Wanghoe, or Elm 
Tree, where the line behind Carolina terminates. From a place 
called Wanghoe, or Elm Tree, to the South Bank of Eeedy Eiver, a 
course in a straight line to a mountain called Tagon Mountain where 
the great ridge of the moimtains becomes impervious. In a straight 
line to Chiswell's mine on the Eastern Bank of the Great Conhoway 
Eiver, to a N. B. E. course, and from Chiswell's mine on the East- 
ern Bank of the Great Conhoway in a straight line to a North course 



*New River. 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 91 

to the confluence of the Great Conhoway with the Ohio. As soon 
as possible after my return to Charlestown I shall send you extracts 
of my conference and an authentic copy of the above mentioned 
Treaty concluded with said Chiefs. I acquainted the Chiefs that I 
expected their Deputies to set out immediately from this place 
with my Deputy to meet your Commissioners at Colonel Chis- 
well's Mine in order to finish marking the Boundary line, as agreed 
upon, but they objected, and desired that that service might be de- 
ferred till the spring of next year. The reasons they urged for 
this delay are as follows : That when they set the 10th of Novem- 
ber for the time of meeting your Commissioners to proceed upon 
that important service, they understood that they had no more to 
mark than from the mountains where the line behind North Caro- 
lina was, to ChiswelFs Mine on the Conhoway, as they considered 
the river from there to its confluence with the Ohio as a natural 
Boundary. But as the line is to run in a straight line, almost due 
North from the Mine, to the mouth of the river,, the advanced 
season of the year will render that service impracticable until the 
Spring, as the line now ultimately agreed upon runs through a 
large extent of mountainous country, uninhabited, where in the 
winter the cold will be extremely intense, and there will be no shel- 
ter for men, nor food for horses at that season. The reasons ap- 
peared to me so just and good, that I was obliged to acquiesce in 
them, and I send this letter by Express to prevent, as much as pos- 
sible, any disappointment that may result from this alteration. I 
hope you will receive it in time to prevent your Commissioners 
from setting out. The Chiefs have appointed the 10th of May next 
for meeting your Commissioners at Chiswell's Mine, which I hope 
will prove agreeable and their reasons for altering the time satis- 
factory to you. I reproached the Cherokees severely for the mur- 
der of five emigrants from your provinces, who were going to the 
Mississippi, which was committed in the summer last. They con- 
fessed it and said the perpetrators were a party of Chilhowie peo- 
ple who urged in their own defence, that their relations had been 
killed in Augusta County, in the province, in 1765, for which they 
had never received any satisfaction although repeated promises 
had been made either of putting the guilty persons to death, or 
making a compensation in goods from your province, which they 
believed, because I had confirmed them. That they nevertheless 



93 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

were disappointed, and being tired with waiting, took that satis- 
faction which they could not obtain from our justice. All the 
warriors declared that they disapproved of the action, but that the 
Chilhowie people were authorized by the custom of their country to 
act as they did, and their idea of never having received any satisfac- 
tion was undeniable ; that in any other instance nothing should pre- 
vent their executing strict justice according to Treaties. It is 
not only extremely disagreeable to myself, but very detrimental to 
his Majesty's service, to be obliged to fail in any promise I make 
to Indians. The compensation of 500 Indian dressed Deer skins 
value in goods for every person murdered, which on the faith of 
Gov. Fauquier's repeated letters, I engaged them to receive, early in 
the Spring, was extremely moderate, and this you will acknowledge 
if you will compare it with the sum expended by the Province of 
Pennsylvania, on a late similar occasion. And I must confess that 
this disappointment will render me extremely cautious in making 
promises on any future occasion, 

I am to meet the Chiefs of the Upper and Lower Creek Nations 
at Silver Bluff on Savannah Eiver, the first of November, to ratify 
the cessions to his Majesty in the two Floridas and Georgia, and 
expect to be at Charlestown by the time the bearer can return there. 

I have the honor of being, very respected Sir, 
Your most obedient and very humble servant, 

John Stuart. 

It will be observed from a perusal of the above letter that the 
superintendent contemplated the running of the line, as fixed by 
the treaty, immediately, but the Indians insisted upon postponing 
the time for running this line till the 10th day of May, 1769. 

This treaty gave great dissatisfaction to the Colony of Virginia 
and to Dr. Walker, the agent for the "Loyal Land Company/' for, 
at the time the treaty was negotiated, hundreds of settlers had fixed 
their homes on the lands west of the line as fixed, and not only had 
many settlers occupied portions of these lands, but Dr. Walker as 
agent for the "Loyal Land Company," and Col. James Patton's 
representatives, had actually surveyed and sold large and numer- 
ous tracts of land lying in the present counties of Pulaski, Wythe, 
Smyth and Washington, and west of the line fixed by this treaty. 
The result of this treaty gave the Indians an excuse for depredating 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 93 

on the settlers, and the settlers were forced to the necessity of 
denying the rights of the Cherokee Indians to the lands thus set- 
tled. 

The settlers on Holston denied the right of the Cherokees to the 
lands included within this county, and under the claim that the 
lands belonged to the Confederacy of the Six Nations, they held 
possession of their lands and continued their settlements. Dr. 
Thomas Walker acted as the Virginia representative in the mak- 
ing of the treaty at Port Stanwix in the fall of the year 1768 and, 
by December of that year, had communicated the result to the 
emigrants along the borders, and no longer could the settlement of 
this country be postponed. In the winter of 1768 and the early 
part of the year 1769, a great flood of settlers overran Southwestern 
Virginia and advanced as far south as Boone's Creek in East Ten- 
nessee. 

The one settler who ventured farthest into the wilderness was 
Captain William Bean, who, with his family, settled on Boone's 
Creek, early in the year 1769. His son, Eussell Bean, was the first 
white child born in Tennessee. 

When Col. William Byrd visited the Long Island in 1760, two 
men, by name Gilbert Christian and William Anderson, accompa- 
nied his regiment. In this year, 1769, Christian and Anderson de- 
termined to explore this western wilderness, and, in company with 
Col. John Sawyers and four others, they crossed the North Fork 
of the Holston river at Cloud's Fort in Tennessee and explored the 
wilderness as far as Big Creek, now a part of Hawkins county, 
where they met a large body of Indians, at which point they deter- 
mined to return to their homes. 

About twenty miles above Cloud's Fort, on the North Fork, 
they found a cabin on every spot where the range was good, where 
only six weeks before nothing was to be seen but a howling wilder- 
ness. When they passed by before, on their outward destination, 
they found no settlers on Holston, save three families on the head 
springs of that river. 

Just preceding this inrush of settlers, a young Englishman by 
the name of Smith visited this section of Virginia and describes 
the country, as he found it, in such an excellent manner that I 
here copy in full his remarks upon the appearance of the country, 
as well as the daily journal which he kept. When he had reached 



94 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

the summit of the mountains above New river, he thus speaks of 
the view presented : 

"Language fails in attempting to describe this most astounding 
and almost unbounded prospective. The mind was filled with a 
reverential awe, but at the same time the ideas, and I had almost 
said soul, were sensibly enlarged. The reflection on our own little- 
ness did not diminish our intellectual faculties nor consequences, 
and the mind would boldly soar over the vast extent of the earth 
and water around, and even above the globe itself, to contemplate 
and admire the amazing works of the great Creator of all. 

In short, the strong, mighty, pointed and extended sensations of 
the mind at this astonishing period are far beyond the power of 
human language to describe or convey any idea of. 

On the northwest you will observe with great astonishment and 
pleasure the tremendous and abrupt break in the Alleghany moun- 
tains, through which pass the mighty waters of New river and the 
Great Kanawha. 

On the west you can very plainly discover the three forks or 
branches of the Holston, where they break through the great Al- 
leghany mountains, forming striking and awful chasms. 

And still beyond them you may observe Clinch river, or Pelli- 
sippi; that it is almost equal to all three branches of the Holston. 
Throughout the whole of this amazing and most extensive per- 
spective there is not the least feature or trace of art or improve- 
ments to be discovered. 

All are the genuine effects of nature alone, and laid down on her 
most extended and grandest scale. 

Contemplating them fills the eye, engrosses the mind and en- 
larges the soul. It totally absorbs the senses, overwhelms all the 
faculties, expands even the grandest ideas beyond all conception 
and causes you almost to forget that you are a human creature.^' 

He then proceeds to give the details of his journey through this 
section of Virginia : 

"We descended the mountain, and halted for the night on the 
side of a large rivulet, which we conjectured to be either Little 
river itself, or some of the waters of it, having crossed the Blue 
ridge at a most disagreeable and dangerous gap in the afternoon. 

Next morning we set out early and traveled down the north side 



Southwest Virginia, 17Ji.6-1786. 95 

of the rivulet, which we found to be Little river, until we arrived 
at New river and at last came to the ford. 

The New river is broad, deep and rapid, frequently impassable 
and always dangerous. 

However, we crossed it in safety, though with great difficulty and 
hazard of being carried down with the stream, and we looked out 
for a convenient spot on the west side, where we now are, to re- 
main for the night. The low ground on New river is narrow, but 
exceedingly rich and fertile ; the high land is also very fine in many 
places, but excessively broken, rocky and mountainous. 

The timber on the high land is very large and lofty, and that on 
the low ground is almost equal to the prodigious heavy trees on the 
Eoanoke river. 

The extreme roughness of this country and the difficulty of ac- 
cess to it, the roads, or rather paths, being not only almost impas- 
sable, but totally impossible ever to be rendered even tolerable by 
any human efforts, will not only greatly retard the settlement of 
this country, but will always reduce the price and value of the land, 
be it ever so rich and fertile. 

In the morning our horses and ourselves being very much re- 
freshed, we set out again on our journey, and, after traveling ten 
or twelve miles, crossed a pretty large water course named Peaks' 
creek, and soon afterwards a large branch of Eeed creek. 

In the afternoon we crossed another great ridge of the Alleghany 
mountains at a gap, and in the evening came to the waters of 
the Middle Fork of the Holston, M^here we halted for the night, 
having traveled this day nearly fifty miles and over a vast quan- 
tity of excellent land. 

Next morning we pursued our journey and traveled down the 
side of the Middle Fork of the Holston, which we crossed no less 
than three times this day, and at night came to Stalnaker's, where 
a few people, indeed all the inhabitants, had also erected a kind of 
wretched stockade fort for protection against the Indians ; but they 
had all left it a few days before our arrival and returned to their 
respective homes. 

Here we remained for two days at the old Dutchman's house 
for rest and refreshment for ourselves and horses, which we had 
really very much need of, and also to make inquiry concerning 
our future route. 



96 Southwest Virginia, nJfe-llSe. 

The land on the Holston is certainly excellent and fertile in the 
highest degree ; the climate also is delightful. 

But the value of the estates here cannot be considerable for many 
years — perhaps centuries to come; for the same roughness that has 
been mentioned to affect those on New river. 

Here we gained intelligence of a nearer way to Kentucky than 
that commonly made use of, which had very lately been discovered, 
viz.: by crossing Clinch river about sixty miles from Stalnaker's, 
going over the great ridge of the Alleghany, or Appalachian moun- 
tains, at a gap which had been used only by a few of the best hunters, 
and falling down on the waters of the Warrior's branch, a river 
that runs into Kentucky. With this route pretty exactly laid down, 
we set out from the Dutchman's house on the third morning after 
our arrival, and, after traveling over a vast quantity of exceedingly 
strong, rich land covered with lofty timber, we reached the banks 
of the North Branch of the Holston, crossed the river, and put up 
for the night, having traveled that day more than thirty miles. 

The ford of this branch of the Holston is, if possible, worse than 
any we have hitherto met with, and is indeed extremely dangerous, 
but we were so familiarized to danger and fatigue as to regard any- 
thing of that nature but little. 

On the next morning we Set out on our journey by the route 
which we had been directed to pursue, and at noon arrived at the 
summit of a vast chain of mountains which separates the north 
branch of the Holston from the Clinch river. 

Here we had the pleasure of enjoying an extensive, wild and 
romantic view, particularly that stupendous ridge of the Alleghany, 
or Appalachian mountains, which is the chief and most lofty of 
the whole. 

It was rendered more interesting to me by reflecting that I must 
cross it on my journey, our route being directly over it. We made 
no unnecessary delay, however, on this commanding spot, but de- 
scended the mountain and pursued with all the expedition we 
could ; and we arrived on the banks of Clinch river late that even- 
ing, so that we could not venture to cross the ford that night. 

In the morning we undertook the hazardous task of fording 
Clinch river, and accomplished it after several plunges, as usual, 
over our heads : neither did we halt to dry our clothes until noon, 
when we rested at the side of a savannah (meadow) ; here we re- 



Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 97 

mained for two hourS;, aud then arose exceedingl}' refreshed, and 
pursued our journey. 

On the evening we had reached half way up the stupendous west- 
ernmost ridge of the Alleghany mountains, the last, greatest and 
loftiest of the whole. 

Here we remained all night, concluding to attempt the steepest 
and most difficult ascent in the morning. We always alighted, and 
led our horses up these prodigious and perilous ascents. 

We pursued our journey up the mountain next morning, but the 
sun was several hours high before we could possibly reach the sum- 
mit. 

This ridge of the Alleghany mountains is indeed of a most stu- 
pendous and astonishing height, and commands a prospect propor- 
tionately extensive. 

I took a retrospective view, with satisfaction and pleasure, of the 
vast chain of mountains beyond Clinch river, which I had crossed, 
and I looked forward, with interested anxiety and eagerness, toward 
the great ridge of mountains which I had still to pass over. 

The summit of this ridge is the most lofty of all the Alleghany, 
is nearly a mile wide, and consists of excellent strong, rich land 
of a deep red or a dark reddish-brown color, with very large, tall 
timber; and there are springs of water almost on the very summit 
of the mountains. When we rested that night we were on the 
waters of Warrior's branch." 

We give no more of this diary, for our traveler has now passed 
beyond the limits of the original bounds of Washington county. 

The Governor of Virginia, upon the receipt of the letter from 
John Stuart, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, immediately set 
about to undo what had been done by the treaty at Hard Labor, 
S. C. He thereupon commissioned Colonel Andrew Lewis and Dr. 
Thomas Walker to visit the Indians and secure a new line from 
them. On the 5th day of January, 1769, they began their journey 
to South Carolina for the purpose of seeing the Indians and nego- 
tiating with them. Dr. Walker and Colonel Lewis returned to their 
homes in the month of February and made a report to Lord Bote- 
tourt, which report we here copy in full, as it is very interesting, 
and explains fully what was done : 

My Lord, — On receiving your Excellency's instructions, we be- 



98 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

gan our journey to Charlestown, South Carolina; on the fifth day 
of January, we waited on his Excellency, William Tryon, Esq., at 
Brunswick, by whom we were kindly received and promised all the 
assistance in his power; on the next day we went to Fort Johnson, 
near the mouth of Cape Fear Eiver. 

On the 8th, Gov. Tryon wrote us that some Cherokee Indians 
were at Brunswick, that Judds Friend and Salue, or the Young 
warrior of Estitoe, were two of them, and that they would wait up 
at Fort Johnston. His Excellency was again invited to go with 
them. On their arrival we informed them we were going to their 
father, John Stuart, Esq., on business relative to the Nation, and 
sliould be glad to have their company, and they readily agreed to 
come with us. On the 9th the officer we had engaged was ready to 
sail, and we embarked with the two Cherokee Chiefs, two Squaws 
and an Interpreter. On the 11th, we waited on Mr. Stuart, de- 
livered your Lordship's letter and full information of our business. 

In answer Mr. Stuart told us that the Boundary between the 
Cherokees and Virginia was fully settled and ratified in Great 
Britain, and that any proposal of that kind would be very alarming 
to them, but after some time agreed that we might mention it to 
them, which we did on the 13th of Jan'y. The Indian Chiefs ap- 
peared much pleased, and agreed to wait on Mr. Stuart with us, and 
in his presence, Judds Friend spoke as follows: 

Father, — On an invitation from Governor Tryon, we left our 
country some time since; Our two elder Brothers, Col. Lewis and 
Doctor Walker, from Virginia, who had matters of importance to 
mention to us, that equally concerned our people as well as theirs. 
His news gave us great joy, and we lost no time in waiting on them, 
and with great pleasure took passage with them in order to wait 
on you on the business which was much concerning us, as well as 
their people, and to convince you that we like their talk, we now take 
them by the hand giving them a welcome, and present them with 
this string of Wampum. 

Father, — They tell us that by running the line lately mentioned, 
as a boundary between our people and Virginia, a great number of 
their people will fall within the bounds of our country, which 
would greatly distress these our poor Brothers; which is far from 
our intention. And to evidence to you, that we are on all occasions, 
willing to testify our brotherly affection towards them, we are 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 99 

heartily willing to join in any such negotiations as may be thought 
necessary and most expedient for fixing a new Boundary, that may 
include all those people settled in our lands in the bounds of Vir- 
ginia, and we now give them in the presence of you our Father, this 
string of Wampum as an assurance that those people shall remain 
in peaceable possession of those lands, until a treaty is held for fix- 
ing a new Boundary, between them and our people. 
Gives a string of Wampum. 

We then delivered the following Talk to the Warriors, to be by 
them communicated to their Nation. 

To the Chiefs of the Cherol-ees: 

Brothers, — On the 20th day of December last, being in Williams- 
burg, we received instructions from Lord Botetourt, a great and 
good man, whom the great King George has sent to preside over his 
Colony of Virginia, directing us to wait on your father, John Stu- 
art, Esq., Supt. Indian Affairs, in order to have a plan agreed 
upon for fixing a new Boundary between your people and his 
Majesty's subjects in the Colony of Virginia. On our way to the 
place, to our great joy, we met with our good brothers, Judds 
Friend and the Warrior of Estitoe, who with great readiness took 
a passage with us from Governor Tryon, to this place where we had 
the happiness to wait upon your father, Mr. Stuart, and with joint 
application, represented to him the necessity of taking such meas- 
ures as may effectually prevent any misunderstanding that might 
arise between his Majesty's subjects of the Colony of Virginia and 
our brothers the Cherokees, until a full treaty be appointed and 
held for the fixing a new Boundary that may give equal justice and 
satisfaction to the parties concerned, and that his Majesty's sub- 
jects, now settled on the lands between Chiswell's Mines, and the 
Great Island of Holston Eiver, remain in peaceable possession of 
said lands, until a line is run between them and our good brothers 
the Cherokees, who will receive full satisfaction for such lands as 
you, our brothers, shall convey to our Great King for the use of his 
subjects. I I ' ' ' 

Your Father, Mr. Stuart's, message to you on this head, makes it 
needless for us to say any more on this subject. He will let you, 
at a proper time, know both the time and place where this great 
work shall be brought into execution. We have the pleasure to 



100 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

inform you that your two great Warriors now present, have heartily 
concurred with us in every measure and make no doubt of such 
measures giving great satisfaction to the whole Nation. 
Gave a string of Wampum. 

Jan. 16th. In answer to which, Judds Friend and the Warrior 
of Estitoe spoke as follows : 

Father: and our Brothers from Virginia, — We have heard your 
Talks, which we think very good, and shall with all convenient 
speed return to our Nation, and when our Chiefs are assembled 
shall lay these Talks before them. 

Brothers, — We are sorry to have it to say, that for some time bad 
blood and evil actions prevailed amongst us, which occasioned a 
stroke from our Elder Brothers; but now we have the satisfaction 
of telling you that our hands are good and straight, and you may de- 
pend on their continuing so, and, that you may depend the more on 
what we say, we take off these black beads from the end of 
this string, that nothing may remain but what is pure and white, 
and now put the black beads in your hands, which we call the re- 
mains of our evil thoughts, and desire you may now cast them 
away, that they may never be had in remembrance more. 

Brothers, — We shall with great pleasure comply with the request 
that you have made with regard to the lands you have mentioned, 
and shall wait with impatience for a general meeting, that we may 
have opportunity for convincing our Elder Brothers of our friendly 
disposition towards them, as we may be of real use to them, for to 
us it is of little or none, as we never hunt there; the deer do not 
live in the mountains, and you, in the meantime, may depend that 
your people shall enjoy peaceable possession until we make a 
Treaty with the Great King. 

Brothers, — We hope the measures now taken will be productive of 
many advantages to our people, as well as those who by living so 
much nearer to us, will have it in their power to supply us with 
goods, for we are often imposed upon greatly, as we have no trade 
at present but with this Province, and we hope you, our Brothers, 
will signify to your Governor, whom we believe to be that great 
and good man you mention, our great desire to have a trade with 
Virginia, that after this business is happily finished, which we 
make no doubt of on the part of our Nation, we may enjoy a 



Southwest Virginia, 17Ji-6-1786. 101 

friendly intercourse and have an advantageous trade with our 
Brothers, the Inhabitants of Virginia. 

Brothers, — We have often joined you in war against your ene- 
mies and you may always depend on our assistance on any future 
occasion. , 

Gives a string of Wampum. 

After we had given Mr. Stuart the reasons for thinking it ab- 
solutely necessary that the new Boundary should be agreed upon, 
he- desired us to commit these reasons in writing and sign them : 
which we did in the following words : 

Sir, — His Excellenc}^, the Eight Honorable Norborne, the Lord 
Botetourt, Governor in Chief of the Colony of Virginia, and the 
King's Council of that Dominion, having ordered us to wait on you 
and assist in settling the Boundary line between that Colony and 
the Cherokee Indians, we beg leave to inform you that the line pro- 
posed to be marked from ChiswelFs Mines to the confluence of the 
Great Kanawha and the Ohio, would be a great disadvantage to 
the Crown of Great Britain, and would injure many subjects of 
Britain that now inhabit that part of the frontier, and have in mak- 
ing that settlement complied with every known rule of government 
and the laws of that Colony. 

Lands were first granted on the waters of the Mississippi by Sir 
William Gooch of Virginia, and the Council about the year 1746, 
in consequence of instructions from England, and many families 
settled on the lands so granted. In the year 1752, the Legislature 
of Virginia passed an act to encourage settlers on the waters of the 
Mississippi. By that act they were exempted from the payment of 
taxes for ten years. To this act his late Majesty, of glorious mem- 
ory, gives assent. The next year another act was passed, by which 
five years' indulgence was added, and in that or the succeeding 
year Eobert Dinwiddle, Esq., Governor of Virginia at that time, 
received instructions from King George 2nd. to grant lands on 
these waters, exempted from the payment of the usual right money 
and free from Quit-rents for ten years. 

Under these encouragements was that part of tlie Colony settled. 
Whilst the inhabitants were settling on these lands, the Cherokee 
Indians were frequently at their habitations, and never that we, 
either of us, ever heard made the slightest complaint of our settling. 



102 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

or laid any claim to the lands we settled, until November, 1763, 
after the King's proclamation issued in that year. 

The Six Nations both claimed the lands that were settled on the 
branches of the rivers Kanawha and Monongahely and were paid 
a proper consideration for them at Lancaster, in 1744, when they 
executed a deed of cession to his late Majesty. 

We flatter ourselves that the above is sufficient to convince you 
of the justice and legality of making those settlements. The 
Boundary line that has been proposed would include many of the 
inhabitants above mentioned within the limits of the Cherokee 
Hunting Grounds. For all such lands and improvements, the jus- 
tice of the crown would be an inducement to make some satisfac- 
tion to the owners which would be expense to the crown and injure 
the inhabitants much and totally ruin many of them, and the 
evil would be increased by the loss of the Quit-rents paid for 
these lands, and would also give the Cherokees a large tract of coun- 
try that was never claimed by them and now is the property of the 
crown, as Sir William Johnson actually purchased it of the Six 
United Nations of Indians at a very considerable expense, and 
took a deed of cession from them at Fort Stanwix, near the head 
of Mohock's Eiver, on the 5th day of November last. 

The interest of the crown and the inhabitants of Virginia will 
be most served by fixing the Boundary with the Cherokees in 36° 
30m. North Latitude, that Boundary being already marked by proper 
authority as far as Steep Kock Creek, a branch of the Cherokee 
Eiver, and is the proper division between Lord Granville's Pro- 
prietary and the Dominion of Virginia, and includes but a small 
part of the lands now claimed by the Cherokees, they having often 
disclaimed the lands lying between the Ohio and a ridge of moun- 
tains called Sheep Eidge, that divides the waters of the Cumber- 
land Eiver from those of the Cherokee Eiver. This boundary will 
give room to extend our settlements for ten or twelve years, will 
raise a considerable sum by the Eights, much increase the Quit- 
rents, and enable the Inhabitants of Virginia to live thus manu- 
facturing such material as they raise. 

Andrew Lewis^ 
Thomas Walker. 
Feb. 2nd. 1769. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 103 

Tims it will appear that Colonel Lewis and Dr. Walker suc- 
ceeded in securing from the Indian chiefs the assurance that the 
settlers on the land in Southwest Virginia should remain in 
peaceable possession of their homes until a treaty could be held fix- 
ing new bounds between them. Acting upon this assurance, emigra- 
tion to the land continued, and during this year James Bryan 
settled near the present residence of Captain Kendrick, Moab, Va., 
and erected Bryan's Fort, William Cocke settled upon Spring creek, 
then called Eenfro's creek, and erected Cocke's fort, near the present 
residence of C. L. Clyce. Anthony Bledsoe settled in the lower end 
of this county about thirty miles east of Long Island, on the Fort 
Chiswell road, and afterwards built Bledsoe's Fort. Amos Eaton 
settled seven miles east of Long Island, M^here Eaton's Fort was 
afterwards built, and by the beginning of the year 1770 there were 
many settlers upon Holston. 

The first settlers of the Liberty Hall neighborhood were the 
Edmistons, Moores and Buchanans. The first name was written 
Edmiston until sixty or seventy years ago. All the land from 
Liberty Hall to some distance east of Friendship was held by 
William Edmiston under a grant from Charles II, King of Eng- 
land, and under the King's proclamation of 1763, Edmiston being 
an officer in the French-Indian war of 1754-1763. 

Fort Edmiston was built by the settlers as a protection against 
the Indians, who made frequent inroads on the settlements. As 
nearly as can be learned, it was built about 1765. 

The site was about three himdred yards east of Liberty Academy. 
The old Keys' dwelling, now owned by William Snodgrass, stands 
on the site of the old fort. A soldier by the name of Edmiston 
died at the fort and was the first person buried in the old Moore 
graveyard. 

The Indians made frequent attacks on the fort and, in one, cap- 
tured and carried off a Miss Steele. The Indians were followed by 
parties from the fort, and she was recaptured on Walker's moun- 
tain. She was traced by means of twigs, which she had presence 
of mind enough to break off along the road. 

Several persons from the fort were in the battle at King's Moun- 
tain, among whom were the eight Edmistons and William Moore. 
Several of the former were killed. They were the ancestors of 
the Edmondsons of this day. 



104 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

Fort Edmiston was one of the first forts erected in this section. 
Fort Thompson, six miles northeast of Liberty Hall, on the Huff, 
formerly the Byars place, was erected about the same time. It was 
named for Captain James Thompson, who owned the property at 
that time, and it remained many years after the revolution. 

Tradition says Fort Edmiston ceased to exist about the year 
1800. 

The first settlers in Widener's Valley were John Widener, Paul- 
ser Eouse and John Jones. They came from Germany, a few years 
prior to the Eevolutionary War, or about 1767. They first settled 
in Pennsylvania, but afterwards came to this country and settled 
temporarily near Fort Thompson. After remaining there a short 
time, they removed to the valley. John Widener located near W. 
M. Widener's mill, and Jones and Eouse in the lower end of the 
valley. 

In order to raise money to get away from Germany, John 
Widener pawned or bartered his son Mike, a boy twelve or four- 
teen years old. Jolm Widener found employment in Pennsylvania, 
and earned money enough to redeem Mike. Mike then followed 
his father to the New World. He arrived just about the commence- 
ment of the revolution, joined Washington's army, was a brave sol- 
dier, acted as interpreter when the Hessians were captured, and 
appears to have been a favorite of Washington's, who called him 
"Mikey." 

After the revolution Mike followed his father and settled in the 
valley on what is now known as the Lilburn Widener farm. Mike 
died at the age of eighty-four. Joel Widener, now living, is a 
grandson. The present generation are all descendants of John 
and Mike. Several families of Eouses, descendants of Paulser, still 
live in the valley. 

At the time of these early settlements there were a good many 
Indians hunting and fishing in and near the valley. They were 
very peaceable, however. Two large Indian camps were established 
— one on the Middle Fork at a point east of the New Bridge; the 
other in the lower end of the valley. Of the latter many evidences 
still remain. 

John and Michael Fleenor settled in Poor Valley; Casper Flee- 
nor in Eich Valley, on the head waters of what is now called Gas- 
per's creek, and Nicholas Fleenor settled at the Lilburn Fleenor 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 105 

place in Eich Valley, below Benhams. The four persons named 
were of German descent and brothers, and are the ancestors of 
many of our best citizens. 

At this point it may be appropriate to give a description of the 
early forts erected by the settlers in the West. 

My readers will understand by this term, not only a place of de- 
fence, but the residence of a small number of families belonging 
to the neighborhood. 

As the Indian's mode of warfare was an indiscriminate slaugh- 
ter of all ages and both sexes, it was as requisite to provide for the 
safety of the women and children as for that of the men. The fort 
consisted of cabins, block-houses and stockades. A range of cabins 
commonly formed one side, at least, of the fort. Divisions or par- 
titions of logs separated the cabins one from another. The walls 
on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of the roof 
being turned wholly inward. Very few of these cabins had plank 
floors ; the greater part were earthen. 

The block-houses were built at the angles of the fort. They pro- 
jected about two feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and 
stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches, every 
way, larger in dimension than the under one, leaving an opening 
at the commencement of the second story to prevent the enemy 
from making a lodgement under their walls. 

In some forts, instead of block-houses, the angles of the fort 
were finished with bastions. A large folding gate, made of thick 
slabs nearest the spring, closed the fort. 

The stockades, bastions, cabins and block-house walls were fur- 
nished with port-holes at proper heights and distances. The whole 
of the outside was made bullet-proof. It may be truly said that 
"necessity is the mother of invention," for the whole of this 
work was made without the aid of a shingle, nail, or spike of iron, 
because such things were not to be had. In some places less exposed 
a single block-house, with a cabin or two, constituted the whole 
fort.* 

In this same year Daniel Boone, John Finley, John Stuart and 
a few others, as well as numerous other companies of hunters who 
are of no importance in the history of this country, explored Ken- 

•Dodridge. 



106 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

tucky and hunted throughout Southwest Virginia, East Tennes- 
see and Eastern Kentucky. 

In the year 1769 there occurred a circumstance that greatly aided 
the early settlers of Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee in 
settling this country and in conquering their Indian neighbors, the 
Cherokees. 

The Cherokee Indians were exceedingly overbearing in their dis- 
position and they sought a quarrel with the Chickasaw Indians and 
invaded their country. 

When they had reached the Chickasaw Old Fields, they were met 
b}'' the Chickasaw warriors. After a terrible battle the Cherokees 
were defeated with great loss and retreated to their own villages. 
The very flower of the Cherokee ISTation were destroyed in this bat- 
tle, and, the number of their warriors being greatly reduced, for 
seven years the early settlers were permitted to pursue their course 
in peace. 

All of the incidents above related occurred while the lands, now 
included in Washington county, were a part of Augusta county, but 
in the year 1769, the House of Burgesses of Virginia passed an act 
for the division of Augusta county, and all that part of Augusta 
county lying south and west of the North river, near Lexington, 
Va., was given the name of Botetourt county, and thus a new county 
was formed, which included all that part of Virginia in which we 
live and about which I write. 

The act establishing Botetourt county provided that from and 
after the 31st day of January next ensuing, 1770, the said county 
and parish of Augusta be divided into two counties and parishes by 
a line beginning at the Blue Eidge, running north 55 degrees west 
to the confluence of Mary's creek, or the South river, with the north 
branch of James river, thence up the same to the mouth of Carr's 
creek, thence up said creek to the mountain, thence north 55 degrees 
west as far as the courts of the two counties had it extended, and 
further. Whereas the people situated on the waters of the Mis- 
sisippi in the said county of Botetourt will be very remote from 
their courthouse and must necessarily become a separate county as 
soon as their numbers are sufficient, which probably will happen in 
a short time, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid that 
the inhabitants of that part of said county of Botetourt which lies 



I 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 107 

on the said waters shall be exempted from the payment of any 
levies to be laid by the said county court for the purpose of building 
a courthouse and prison for said county. 

It will thus be seen that the organization of the county of Bote- 
tourt was intended to be temporary only. 



108 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf.6-1786. 



CHAPTEE V. 

SOUTHWEST VIKGINIA— BOTETOURT COUNTY. 
1770-1773. 

The first County Court of Botetourt county met at the house of 
Robert Breckenridge, near the location of Fincastle, Va., on Tues- 
day, the 13th of February, 1770. The justices composing the court 
were: 

~^ William Preston, David Robinson, 

George Skillem, James Trimble 

Richard Woods, John Maxwell 

Benjamin Hawkins, William Fleming, 

Benjamin Estill, Israel Christian, 

John Bowyer, Robert Breckenridge.)^ 

A number of the members of this court were not present on the 
first day of the court, but were subsequently qualified. The follow- 
ing officers qualified on that day: 

County Court Clerk, John May. 
Sheriff Botetourt county, Richard Woods. 
Deputy Sheriffs Botetourt county, Jas. McDowell and Jas. Mc- 
Gavock. 

County Surveyor, William Preston. 
Escheator, William Preston. 
Coroner, Andrew Lewis. 
Colonel of Militia, William Preston. 

The attorneys qualifying to practice in the court were: 

Edmund Winston, John Aylett, 

Luke Bowyer, Thomas Madison. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 109 

On the 14th day of February, 1770, the following magistrates 
qualified and took their seats: 

John Bowman, Anthony Bledsoe, 

AVilliam Christian, Walter Crockett, 

Robert Doach, John Howard, 

William Herbert, William Inglis, 

Philip Love, Andrew Lewis, 

John Montgomery, James McGavock, 

William Matthews, William McKee, 

James Eobertson, Francis Smith, 

Stephen Trigg, Andrew Woods. 

And on the 11th day of June, 1771, the following members of the 
court qualified: 

John Van Bebber, James Thompson, of Holston, 

John Stewart, Matthew Arbuckle. 

Botetourt county was named for Lord Botetourt, Governor of 
Virginia, in 1768, and the county seat was fixed at the present loca- 
tion of Finscastle, Va., upon forty acres of land presented to the 
county for a town seat by Israel Christian. Fincastle was named 
for the county seat of Lord Botetourt in England, and was estab- 
lished as a town by law in 1772. 

Of the members of the County Court of Botetourt county, James 
Eobertson, Anthony Bledsoe and James Thompson had their resi- 
dence upon the waters of the Holston and the Watauga. On the 
second day of the court, being February 14, 1770, Frederick Stern 
and Eobert Davis were appointed constables upon the Holston river ; 
on the 13th of June, 1770, William Pruitt was appointed a con- 
stable upon the waters of the Clinch, and Arthur Campbell was 
appointed surveyor of the roads from the State line to the Eoyal 
Oak, and James Davis from the Eoyal Oak to his house. 

On the 13th of March, 1770, Arthur Campbell obtained permis- 
sion from the County Court of Botetourt county to erect a mill at 
Eoyal Oak, on the Holston, and there can be no question that this 
was the first mill erected upon any of the waters of the Holston or 
Clinch river. 

On the same day Francis Kincannon was appointed surveyor of 
the roads from Stalnaker's to Eighteen Mile creek; Thomas Earn- 



110 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

say from said creek to Beaver, or Shallow, creek, and David Looney 
from said creek to Fall creek. 

On the 10th of May, 1770, Anthony Bledsoe was appointed to 
take the tithables from Stalnaker's to the lowest inhabitants. 

The next order of the County Court of Botetourt county, of any 
importance in the history of this county, was made on the 14th of 
August, 1771, when the County Court ordered that Andrew Colvill, 
^George Adams, George Tiller, George Baker, David Ward and 
Alexander Wilie, or any three of them, being first sworn to view 
the way from the head of Holston river to the Wolf Hill creek, both 
the old and the new way, make report to the next court of the con- 
veniences and inconveniences thereof. The records of BoJ;etourt 
county fail to show that this report was ever made or that the road 
was established, but there can be but little doubt that the road was 
established and used, and, if so, this was the first public road estab- 
lished upon the waters of the Holston or Clinch river. The fore- 
going is all the information that the records of Botetourt county 
give of any of the people living upon the waters of the Holston and 
Clinch rivers. 

The one matter of supreme importance to the inhabitants of this 
section of Virginia at that time was the extinguishment of the 
claims of the Cherokee Indians to the lands which they were set- 
tling and occupying, and, pursuant to instructions, John Stuart, 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, assembled the Indian chiefs at 
Lochaber, S. C, October 18, 1770, and on Monday, October 22, 
1770, he succeeded in concluding a treaty with the chiefs and war- 
riors of the Cherokee Nation, by which George III, King of Eng- 
land, became the owner of all the_ lands lying east of a line 
beginning at a point where the North Carolina (now Tennessee) 
line terminates at a run, thence in a west course to Holston river, 
where it is intersected by a continuation of the line dividing the 
Province of North Carolina (now Tennessee) and Virginia, and 
thence in a straight course to the confluence of the Great Canaway 
river, the treaty being here given in full : 

TEEATT. 

At a meeting of the principal Chiefs and Warriors of the Cherokee 
Nation with John Stuart, Esq., Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 
etc., Lochaber, South Carolina, Oct. 18th, 1770. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. Ill 

Present Colo. Donelson by appointment of his Excellency, the 
Right Honorable Lord Botetourt, in behalf of the Province of Vir- 
ginia. 

Alcx'r Cameron, Deputy Superintendent ; James Simpson, Clk of 
his Majesty's Council of South Carolina; Major Lacy, from Vir- 
ginia ; Major Williamson, Capt. Cohoon, John Caldwell, Esq., Cap- 
tain Winter, Christopher Peters, Esq., besJdes a great number of the 
back inhabitants of the province of South Carolina, and the fol- 
lowing chiefs of the Cherokee Nation : Oconistoto, Killagusta, At- 
tacallaculla, Keyatory, Tiftoy, Terreaino, Encyod Tugalo, Scali- 
loskie Chinista, Chinista of Watangali, Octaciti of Hey Wassie, and 
about a thousand other Indians of the same Nation. 

John Watts, ^ 

David McDonald, l Interpreters. 

John Vans, J 

Treaty, Monday, 22nd Oct. 

At a Congress of the principal chiefs of the Cherokee Nation, held 
at Lochaber, in the province of South Carolina, on the 18th day 
of October in the year of our Lord 1770, by John Stuart, Esq., his 
Majesty's agent for and Superintendent of the Affairs of the In- 
dian Nation in the Southern district of North America. 

A Treaty for a cession ! His most sacred Majesty, George the 
Third, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
King, Defender of the Faith, etc., by the said Nation of Cherokee 
Indians, of certain lands lying within the limits of the Dominion of 
Virginia. 

Whereas by a Treaty entered into and concluded at Hard Labor, 
the 14th day of Oct. in the year 1768, by John Stuart, Esq. his 
Majesty's Agent for and Superintendent of the affairs of the In- 
dian Nations, inhabiting the southern district of North America, 
with the principal and ruling Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation, all of 
the lands formerly claimed by, and belonging to the said Nation of 
Indians, lying within the province of North Carolina and Virginia, 
running in a N. B. E. course, to Colo. Chiswell's mine on the East- 
ern bank of the Great Canaway, and from thence in a straight line 
to the mouth of the said Great Canaway river, where it discharges 
itself into the Ohio river, were ceded to his most sacred Majesty, his 



112 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

heirs and sucessors. And whereas by the above recited Treaty, all 
the lands lying between Holston's Eiver, and the line above specified 
were determined to belong to the Cherokee Nation to the great loss 
and inconvenience of many of his Majesty's subjects inhabiting the 
said lands; and representation of the same having been made to 
his Majesty by his Excellency, the Et Hon'ble ISTorborne, Baron de 
Botetourt, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the 
dominion of Virginia. In Consequence whereof, his Majesty has 
been generously pleased to signify his Eoyal pleasure to John Stu- 
art, Esq., his Agent for and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the 
Southern District of North America, by an instruction contained 
in a letter from the Et. Hon'ble the Earl of Hillsborough, one of 
his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, dated the 13th of May, 
1769, to enter into a negotiation with the Cherokees for establishing 
a new boundary line beg'g at the point where the No. Carolina line 
terminates, and to run thence in a west course to Holston's Eiver, 
where it is intersected by a continuance of the line dividing the 
province of North Carolina & Virginia, and thence a straight course 
to the confluence of the Great Canaway and Ohio Elvers. 
Dec. 12, 1770. 

Article 1st. 

Pursuant therefore to his Majesty's orders to & power and autho- 
rity vested in John Stuart, Esqr. Agent for and Superintendent of 
the Affairs of the Indian Tribes in the Southern District: It is 
agreed upon by the said John Stuart, Esqr. on behalf of his most 
sacred Majesty, George Third, by the grace of God, of Great 
Britain, Prance and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., and 
by the subscribing Cherokee Chiefs and Warriors on behalf of their 
said Nation in consideration of his Majesty's paternal goodness, so 
often demonstrated to them, the said Cherokee Indians, and from 
their affection and friendship for their Brethren, the Inhabi- 
tants of Virginia as well as their earnest desire of removing as far 
as possible all cause of dispute between them and the said inhabi- 
tants on account of encroachments on lands reserved by the said In- 
dians for themselves, and also for a valuable consideration in 
various sorts of goods paid to them by the said John Stuart, on 
behalf of the Dominion of Virginia that the hereafter recited line be 
ratified and confirmed, and it is hereby ratified and confirmed ac- 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 113 

cordingly : and it is by these presents firnily stipulated and agreed 
upon by the parties aforesaid that a line beginning where the boun- 
dary line between the province of No. Carolina and the Cherokee 
hunting grounds terminates and running thence in a west course 
to a point six miles east of Long Island in Holston's river and thence 

to said river six miles above the said Long Island, thence in a 

course to the confluence of the Great Canaway and Ohio rivers, 
shall remain and be deemed by all his Majesty's white subjects 
as well as all the Indians of the Cherokee Nation, the true and 
just boundaries of the lands reserved by the said Nation of Indians 
for their own proper use, and dividing the same from the lands 
ceded by them to his Majesty's within the limits of the province of 
Virginia, and that his Majesty's white subjects, inhabiting the pro- 
vince of Virginia, sliall not, upon any pretense whatsoever, settle 
beyond the said line, nor shall the said Indians make any settlements 
or encroachments on the lands which by this treaty they cede and 
confirm to his Majesty; and it is further agi-eed that as soon as his 
Majesty's royal approbation of this treaty shall have been signified 
to the Governor of Virginia or Superintendent, this treaty shall be 
carried into execution. 

Article 2nd. 

And it is further agreed upon and stipulated by the contracting 
parties, that no alteration whatsoever shall henceforward be made in 
the boundary line above recited, and now solemnly agreed upon, ex- 
cept such as may hereafter be found expedient and necessary for 
the mutual interest of both parties, and which alteration shall be 
made with the consent of the Superintendent or such other person 
or persons as shall be authorized by his Majesty, as well as w^th the 
consent and approbation of the Cherokee Nation of Indians, at a 
Congress or general meeting of said Indians, to be held for said 
purpose, and not in any other manner. 

In testimony whereof, the said Superintendent, on behalf of his 
Majesty, and the underwritten Cherokee Chiefs on behalf of their 
Nation have signed and sealed this present treaty at the time and 
place aforesaid. 

John Stuart, (L. S.) 

Oconistoto, YC, (L. C.) 

Kittagusta, 0., (L. C.) 



114 Southtvest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

Attacallaculla, X., (L. C.) 

Keyatoy's mark NG., (L. C.) 

TJnkayonla, C, (L. C.) 

Chuckamuntas, C, (L. C.) 

Kinalilaps, NG., (L. C.) 

Skyagusta Tucelicis, S., (L. C.) 

Wolf of Keewees, G., (L. C.) 

Skyagusta Tiftoy, (L. C.) 

Terrapino, (L. C.) 

Ency of Tugalo, (L. C.) 

Scaliluskey of Sugar Town, (L. C.) 
Thus all claim asserted by both the northern and southern In- 
dians to any of the lands located within the present bounds of 
Washington county was extinguished, and the settlement of these 
lands was greatly expedited thereby. This portion of Virginia now 
opened to settlement was one vast forest overspreading a limestone 
soil of great fertility and excellently watered, and this, accompa- 
nied by the comparative security and quiet succeeding the French- 
Indian war of 1763, contributed greatly to the rapid settlement of 
Southwestern Virginia. 

In the year 1770, Col. James Knox,* accompanied by about 
forty hunters from the settlements on New river, Holston and 
Clinch, passed oved the Cumberland mountains for the purpose of 
hunting and trapping, and penetrated to the lower Cumberland. 
They were equipped with their rifles, traps and dogs, and the 
usual outfit of backwoods hunters, and thus originated the name 
Long Hunters. The usual mode of hunting followed by what were 
known as the Long Hunters, in those days, was for not more than 
two oj: three men to go in one company, each man having two 
horses, traps, a large surplus of powder and lead, a small hand vise 
and bellows and files and screw plates for the purpose of fixing 
guns, if any should get out of fix. They usually set out from their 
homes about the first of October and returned the latter part of 
March or first of April. The most noted Long Hunters were 
Elisha Walden, William Carr, William Crabtree, James Aldridge, 
William Pitman and Henry Scaggs. 

During the season above mentioned, large numbers of hunters 



*AfterwaTda Gen. Knox. The last named erected a fort near the present 
site of Knoxville, Tenn., to which was given the name of Fort Knox. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-n86. 115 

visited the valleys of the Holston, Clinch and Powell's rivers, and 
oftentimes penetrated into the very heart of Kentucky. 

In the year 1771, Absalom Looney settled in Abb's Valley, Taze- 
well county, Virginia, and from him the valley received its name. 
Thomas JVitten and John Greenup settled at_Crab Orchard, a few 
miles west of Tazewell C. H. ; Mathias, Jacob and Henry Harmon 
settled a few miles east of Tazewell C. H., and John Craven, 
Joseph Martin, John Henry, James King and John Bradshaw set- 
tled in Tazewell county, on the headwaters of the Clinch. 

In the year 1771, a company of about twenty men from near 
the Natural Bridge in Virginia and from the New river settle- 
ments met about eight miles below Fort Chiswell on New river, 
whence they traveled to the head of the Holston, and thence down 
the Holston Valley, and on into Kentucky, where they continued 
to hunt for about nine months. 

The Holston settlements received during this year a large num- 
ber of emigrants from North Carolina. The government of North 
Carolina was in the hands of a class of people who were very 
haughty and oppressive in their manner towards the poorer classes 
of citizens, which caused great numbers of the people of North 
Carolina to organize themselves into bands called Eegulators. 
They petitioned Governor Tryon for relief, which was denied; tu- 
mult and violence succeeded, the courts were prevented from sit- 
ting and the laws were disobeyed. The principal ground of com- 
plaint was that the jDCople were taxed without the right to vote and 
send representatives to the House of Commons of North Carolina. 
About three thousand Eegulators banded themselves together, and 
on the 16th of May, 1771, a battle was fought at the Alamance, 
between the Eegulators and the forces commanded by Governor 
Tryon. The Eegulators, being undisciplined and poorly armed, 
were defeated with the loss of nine killed and many wounded, the 
Governor's forces having lost twenty-seven killed and many 
wounded. And thus it is said was fought the first battle of the 
Eevolution, and thus was shed the first blood for the enjoyment 
of liberty. The Eegulators being thus defeated and dispersed, 
many of their number found homes on the waters of the Holston 
and Clinch rivers. At this time the settlements extended down the 
north side of the Holston river as far as' Carter's Valley, about 
fourteen or fifteen miles al)ove Eogersville, Tenn., and that por- 



IIG Soutlmest Virginia, 17Jt6-17S6, 

tion of tlie country being supposed to be a part of Virginia, it was 
soon settled by people from the Wolf Hills in Virginia. 

A settlement was made on the Watauga as early as the year 1770, 
upon the idea that the lands were in Virginia, and that the set- 
tlers ^\'o^lld be entitled to take up the lands given to settlers under 
the laws of Virginia, to-wit: To each actual settler who should 
erect a log cabin and cultivate one acre in corn, four hundred acres, 
located so as to include all improvements, with the right to buy 
a thousand acres adjoining at a nominal price. Most of the early 
settlers on the Watauga came from near the Wolf Hills and, being 
loyal Virginians, they did not contemplate establishing a residence 
in the State of North Carolina, but thought they were near the 
boundary between the two States. 

In the fall of the year 1771, Anthony Bledsoe ran the boundary 
line between the Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, far 
enough west to ascertain that the Watauga settlement was in North 
Carolina, and Alexander Cameron, the British agent, immediately 
ordered the settlers on the Watauga to move off of the Indian lands. 
James Robertson and John Sevier, two of the leading members 
of the Watauga settlement, immediately set about to devise ways 
and means by which they could avoid the order of the British 
agent. They could not buy the lands from the Indians, because 
the purchase was prohibited, but there was no law prohibiting a 
lease of the land, and in the year 1774, the Indians leased to the 
settlers on the Watauga the lands in the Watauga Valley and all 
was peace once again. 

The stream of emigration that poured over the mountains ex- 
tended along the Holston as far as Carter's Valley and on the lands 
belonging to the Indians. They were all from Virginia and of 
Scotch-Irish descent, their wealth consisting of strong arms and 
stout hearts. 

In the year 1772, James Moore and James Poage settled in 
Abb's Valley, William Wynn at Locust Hill, John Taylor and 
Jesse Evans on the north fork of Clinch; Thomas Maxwell, Benja- 
min Joslin, James Ogleton, Peter and Jacob Harmon, Samuel 
Ferguson and William Webb, near Tazewell C. H.; Eees Bowen, 
at Maiden Spring, David Ward in the Cove, and William Garri- 
son at the foot of Morris' Knob. William Wynn erected a fort on 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 117 

Wyim's Branch, Thomas^ Witten at Crab Orchard, arid Roes 
Bowen at Maiden SjDring. 

The early settlers of Southwest Virginia came principally from 
the Valley of Virginia, western Pennsylvania and Maryland, some 
of them coming directly from Ireland. They were of a mixed 
race, and a large majority were Scotch-Irish. In studying the 
nationality of the early settlers of Southwest Virginia, it inust 
be kept in mind that there was a great difference between the 
people inhabiting the eastern shores of Virginia and the early set- 
tlers in the mountains of western Virginia. They differed both in 
their ancestry and in their religion. 

The early settlers of Eastern Virginia were English by birth and 
Episcopalians in religion; wliile the early settlers of Southwest 
Virginia were Scotch-Irish by birth and Presbyterians in religious 
belief. 

Tlie government of the Colony of Virginia, early in the eigh- 
teenth century, adopted the policy of offering inducements to the 
dissenters from the established church to settle and make their 
liomes in the Valley of Virginia and in the Southwest, and thereby 
sought to establish a barrier between the Indian tri1)es and the set- 
tlers east of the mountains. 

In the adoption of this policy the government of the Colony of 
Virginia was actuated by selfish motives; they little dreamed that 
they were thus giving a foothold to a vigorous people, who were 
destined to play a strong part in the future history of their 
country. 

The people thus invited to settle the garden spot of Virginia 
were th^ sons of the men who followed Cromwell. They were men 
who regarded themselves, according to Macaulay, as "kings by the 
right of an earlier creation and priests by the interposition of an 
Almighty hand.*' King James I, when speaking of a Scotch Pres- 
bytery, said, "Presbytery agreeth as well with monarchy as God and 
the devil." They were Protestants and detested the Catholics, the 
enemies of their forefathers, and they despised the Episcopalians, 
their oppressors. Tliey constituted the outposts of our eai-lier civiliza- 
tion, their homes being in the mountains. A distinguished writer, 
in speaking of these people, says: "That these Irish Presbyte- 
rians were a bold and hardy race is proved by their at once pushing 
past the settled regions and plunging into the wilderness as the 



118 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

leaders of the white advance. They were the first and last set of 
emigrants to do this; all others have merely followed in the wake 
of their predecessors. But indeed they were fitted to be Americans 
from the very start; they were the kinsfolk of the Covenanters: 
they deemed it a religious duty to interpret their own Bible, and 
held for a divine right the election of their own clergy. The creed 
of the backwoodsmen who had a creed at all was Presbyterianism, 
for the Episcopacy of the tidewater lands obtained no foothold in 
the mountains, and the Methodists and Baptists had but just be- 
gun to appear in the west,* before the Eevolution broke out." 

Governor David Campbell, who lived and died at Abingdon, in 
speaking of these people, says : "The first settlers on Holston river 
were a remarkable race of people, for their intelligence, enterprise 
and hardy adventure." The greater portion of them had emi- 
grated from the counties of Botetourt, Augusta and Frederick, and 
others from along the same valley and from the upper counties 
of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and generally, where they had any 
religious opinions, were Presbyterians. 

A very large proportion were religious, and many were mem- 
bers of the church. It is generally supposed that the motive 
actuating the early explorers and settlers of this country was the 
acquisition of wealth, and while such motive may have had its 
influence on some, we cannot believe that such was the real motive 
of the great body of our early settlers. The early settlers and 
forefathers had been persecuted in their homes across the Atlantic 
because of their independent spirit and their undying fealty to 
tlie doctrines taught by Calvin and Knox; and when they crossed 
the waters they were driven, by the intolerant spirit of the estab- 
lished church, beyond the lowlands to the very mountains, where 
they sought a place and opportunity to exercise their religion ac- 
cording to the dictates of their consciences. The important part 
played by this people in the early history of our country cannot be 
overestimated. 

Our forefathers were inspired and governed by the same senti- 
ments that actuated the founders of our nation. The theology of 
Calvin, the founder of the republic of Geneva, combined with the 
sturdy independence of the Scotch-Irish settlers of the American 
colonies, gave birth to our republic. "The first voice raised in 



*The Winning of the West, Vol. I., page 138. 



Soutiiwest Virginia, 1746-1786. Il9 

America to destroy all connection with Great Britain came from 
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians.*" 

The Hon. Wm. C. Preston, of South Carolina, a native of Wash- 
ington county, in speaking of the resemblance between the consti- 
tution of the Presbyterian Church and the constitution of our 
country, said : "Certainly it was the most remarkable and singular 
coincidence that the constitution of the PresbyteHian Church 
should bear such a close and striking resemblance to the political con- 
stitution of ovir country."! 

Not only were they the first to demand the separation of the 
colonies from the mother country, but they were the first to de- 
mand religious liberty and the separation of Church and State. 

Hanover Presbytery, of which the Eev. Chas. Cummings was an 
honored member, prepared a petition with this object in view and 
presented it to the General Assembly of Virginia on the 34th of 
October, 1776, the petition being as follows : 

"A memorial of the Presbytery of Hanover was presented to the 
House, and read : setting forth that they are governed by the same 
sentiments which have inspired the United States of America, 
and are determined that nothing in their power and influence shall 
be wanting to give success to the common cause: that Dissenters 
from the Church of England in this country have ever been desir- 
ous to conduct themselves as peaceable members of the civil gov- 
ernment, for which reason they have hitherto submitted to several 
ecclesiastick burthens and restrictions, that are inconsistent with 
equal liberty, but that now when the many and grievous oppres- 
sions of our mother country have laid this continent under the 
necessity of casting off the yoke of tyranny, and of forming inde- 
pendent governments, upon equitable and liberal foundations, they 
flatter themselves they shall be freed from all the encumbrances 
which a spirit of domination, prejudice or bigotry hath interwoven 
with most other political systems : that they are more strongly en- 
couraged to expect this, by the declaration of rights, so universally 
applauded for the dignity, firmness and precision with which it 
delineates and asserts the privileges of society and the prerogatives 
of human nature, and which they embrace as the Magna Charta of 
the Commonwealth, which can never be violated without endanger- 



•Bancroft's His. U. S., Vol. X., page 77. 
tScotch-Irish Seeds, page 346. 



120 Southwest Virginia, llJf6-178G. 

ing the grand superstructure it was destined to support: There- 
fore they rely upon this declaration, as well as the justice of the 
Legislature, to secure to them the free exercise of their religion, 
according to the dictates of their consciences : and that they should 
fall short in their duty to themselves and to the many and nu- 
merous congregations under their care, were they upon this occasion 
to neglect laying before the House a statement of the religious griev- 
ances under which they have hitherto labored, that they may no 
longer be continued in the present form of government: that it 
is well known that in the frontier counties which arej'ustly sup- 
posed to contain a fifth part of the inhabitants of Virginia, the 
dissenters have borne the heavy burthens of purchasing glebes and 
supporting the established clergy, where there are very few Episco- 
palians either to assist in bearing the expense or to reap the ad- 
vantage: and that throughout the other parts of the country there 
are also many thousands of zealous friends and defenders of the 
State who, besides the invidious disadvantageous restrictions to 
which they have been subjected annually, pay large taxes to sup- 
port an establishment from which their consciences and principles 
oblige them to dissent, all which are so many violations of their 
natural rights, and in their consequences a restraint upon freedom 
of inquiry and private judgment. In this enlightened age, and in 
a land where all are united in the most strenuous efforts to be free, 
they hope and expect that their representatives will cheerfully 
concur in removing every species of religious as well as civil bond- 
age. That every argument for civil liberty gains additional 
strength when applied to liberty in the concerns of religion, and 
that there is no argument in favor of establishing the Christian 
religion but what may be pleaded for establishing the tenets of Ma- 
homet by those who believe in the Alcoran : or, if this be not true, 
it is at least impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right 
of preference among the various sects which profess the Christian 
faith, without erecting a chair of infallibility which would lead us 
back to the Church of Eome. That they beg leave farther to repre- 
sent that religious establishments are highly injurious to the tem- 
poral interests of any community, without insisting upon the ambi- 
tion and the arbitrary practices of those who are favored by govern- 
ment, or the intriguing seditious spirit which is commonly excited 
by this, as well as every other kind of oppression. Such establish- 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 121 

ments greatly retard population and consequently the progress of 
arts, sciences and manufactures: witness the rapid growth and 
improvement of the northern provinces compared with this. That 
no one can deny the more early settlement, and the many supe- 
rior advantages of our country, would have invited multitudes 
of artificers, mechanics and other useful memhers of society, to fix 
their hal)itation among us, who have either remained in the place 
of their nativity, or preferred worse civil government, and a more 
harren soil, where they might enjoy the rights of conscience more 
fully than they had a prospect of doing in this : from which they 
infer that Virginia might now have been the capital of America, 
and a match for the British arms, without depending upon others 
for the necessaries of war, had it not been prevented by her reli- 
gious establishment. JSTeither can it be made appear that the gos- 
pel needs any such civil aid: they rather conceive that when our 
Blessed Savior declares his kingdom is not of this world, he 
renounces dependence upon State power, and as his weapons are 
spiritual and were only designed to have influence upon the judg- 
ment and heart of man, they are persuaded that if mankind were 
left in the quiet possession of their unalienable privileges, Chris- 
tianity, as in the days of the Apostles, would continue to prevail 
and flourish in the greatest purity by its own native excellence, 
and under the all-disposing providence of God. That they would 
also humbly represent, that the only proper objects of civil gov- 
ernment are the happiness and protection of men in the present 
state of existence, the security of the life, liberty and property of 
the citizens, and to restrain the vicious and encourage the virtuous 
l)y wholesome laws, equally extending to every individual : but that 
tli(^ duty they owe their Creator, and the manner of discharging it, 
can only be directed by reason and conviction, and is nowhere 
cognizable but at the tribunal of the universal judge, and that 
therefore they ask no ecclesiastical establishments for themselves, 
neither can they approve of them when granted to others, and earn- 
estly entreating that all laws now in force in this Commonwealth 
which countenance religious denominations may he speedily re- 
pealed, that all and every religious sect may be protected in the 
full exercise of their several modes of worship, and exempted from 
the payment of all taxes for the support of any church whatever, 



122 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

farther than what may be agreeable to their own private choice, or 
voluntary obligations."* 

But few of the inhabitants of this beautiful country at the 
present time have even a slight idea of the dangers and priva- 
tions endured by the early settlers, the dim shadows of which are 
vanishing like the tints in a dissolving scene. The men who 
worked their way from the settlements in the valley to their future 




The First Temples. 

home, groping through the forest without a road and with nothing 
to guide them in their course, except the trail of the Indian and 
the buffalo; at night resting on the ground with no roof over them 
save the branches of the mighty oak or the broad expanse of 
heaven; exploring an unknown wilderness, surrounded by insur- 
mountable obstacles and momentarily threatened with assault from 
their deadly enemies, the rattlesnake, the Indian and the wild beast 
of the forest, but always accompanied by a trust in their God, 
came, "with the Bible in one hand and a cross in the other, tread- 
ing the sombre shades of these dark old woods and often with a 
boulder of granite for a footstool, and the eternal cataracts thunder- 



*Joiirnal Va. House of Delegates, 1776. This petition preceded Jefferson 
resolution by many years. 



Southivest Virginia, 17V>-1786. 123 

ing amid the everlasting solitudes for an organ, these devout men 
worshipped their God according to the dictates of their consciences." 
Each emigrant bronglit with him some clothes, a little bedding, 
gims and ammunition, cooking 'utensils, seed corn, an axe, a saw 
and the Bible. Such were the men and the manner of their com- 
ing, who cleared the forests and opened the beautiful and rich 
farms that are now spread out upon our hills and mountain sides 
and grassy plains. 

The early settlers in their intercourse with others were kind, 
l)cneficent and disinterested: extending to all the most generous 
liospitality that their circumstances could afford. That selfish- 
ness which prompts to liberality for the sake of remuneration and 
]u-of esses the civilities of life with an eye to individual interest 
was unknown to them. Tbey were kind for kindness' sake and 
sought no other recompense than the never failing concomitant 
of good deeds, tlie reward of an approving conscience. 

Tliere existed in each settlement a perfect unison of feeling. 
Similitude of situation and community of danger operated as a 
magic charm and stifled in their birth those little bickerings wliich 
are so apt to disturb the quiet of society.* 

Ambition of preferment, the pride of place, too often hin- 
drances to social intercourse, wei'C unknown among them. Equal- 
ity of condition rendered them strangers alike to the baneful dis- 
tinctions of M^ealth and other adventitious circumstances, a sense 
of mutual dependence for their common security, linked them in 
amity and they conducted their several purposes in harmonious con- 
cert; together they toiled and together they suffered. Such were 
the pioneers of the Southwest; and the greater part of mankind 
might now derive advantage from the contemplation of their "hum- 
ble virtues, their hospitable homes, their spirits potential, noble, 
proud and free, their self-respect grafted on innocent thoughts, 
their days of health and nights of sleep, their toils, by dangers 
dignified, yet guiltless, their hopes of cheerful old age and a quiet 
grave with cross and garland over its green turf and their grand- 
children's love for an epitaph."* 

The early settlers of this section of Virginia were a strong, 
stern people, simple in their habits. God-fearing in their practices, 
imbibing the spirit of freedom, such as is usually found among the 

*Dodridge. 



134 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

inhabitants of a mountainous country, kind in their disposition 
towards the well-disposed and unmerciful in their dealings with 
their enemies. They were upright in all their dealings, fearless 
advocates of the right and undying lovers of their country. 

Dr. Dodridge, an author who wrote from his personal knowl- 
edge, says that "linsey coats and bed-gowns, were the universal dress 
of the women in the earlj'^ times." The weed, now known among 
us as the 'Vild nettle," then furnished the material which served 
to clothe the persons of our sires and dames." It was cut down 
while yet green and treated much in the same manner in which 
flax is now treated. 

The fibrous bark, with the exception of the shortness of the 
fibres, seemed to be adapted to the same uses. When this "flax," 
if I may so terrii it, was prepared, it was mixed with buffalo hair, 
and woven into a substantial cloth in which the men and women 
were clothed. It is a true maxim, "Necessity is the mother of 
invention." 

"The furniture of the table, for several years after the settle- 
ment of this country, consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and 
spoons; but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. If 
these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up 
the deficiency. Iron pots, knives and forks were brought from the 
East, with the salt and iron on horseback." 

"In our whole display of furniture, the delft, china and silver 
were unknown. It did not then, as now, require contributions 
from the four quarters of the globe to furnish the breakfast table, 
viz., the silver from Mexico, the coffee from the West Indies, the 
tea from China and the delft or porcelain from Europe or Asia. 
Yet, a homely fare, unsightly_ cabins and furniture produced a 
hardy race, who planted the first footsteps of civilization in the 
immense regions of the West. Inured to hardship, bravery and 
labor from their early youth, they sustained wfth manly fortitude 
the fatigue of the chase, the campaign and scout, and with 'strong 
arms turned the wilderness into fruitful fields,' and have left to 
their descendants the rich inheritance of an immense empire 
blessed with peace, w^ealth and prosperity."* 

"For a long time after the settlement of this country, the in- 

*Bickley. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt-6-nS6. 125 

habitants in general married young. There was no distinction of 
rank and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first impres- 
sion of love resulted in marriage, and a family establishment cost 
but little labor and nothing else. 

"A description of a wedding from beginning to end will serve 
to show the manners of our forefathers and mark the grade of civi- 
lization which has succeeded to their rude state of society, in the 
course of a few years. 

"In the first years of the settlement of a country, a wedding en- 
gaged the attention of the whole neighborhood, and the frolic was 
anticipated by young and old with eager expectation. This is not 
to be wondered at when it is told that a wedding was almost the 
only gathering which was not accompanied with the labor of reap- 
ing, log-rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or cam- 
paign. On the morning of the wedding day the groom and his at- 
tendants assembled at the house of his father for the purpose of 
reaching the home of his bride by noon, which was the usual time 
for celebrating tlic nuptials and which, for certain reasons, must 
take place before dinner. 

"Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people without a 
store, tailor or mantua-maker within a hundred miles, and an as- 
semblage of horses without a blacksmith or saddle within an equal 
distance. The gentlemen dressed in shoepacks, moccasins, leather 
breeches, leggings, linsey hunting shirts, and all home-made. The 
ladies dressed in linsey petticoats and linsey or linen bed-gowns, 
coarse shoes, stockings and handkerchiefs and buckskin gloves, if 
any. If there were any rings, buckles, buttons or ruffles, they were 
the relics of olden times; family pieces from parents or grand- 
parents. The horses were caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles 
or halters, and pack-saddles with a bag or blanket thrown over 
them ; a rope or string as often constituted the girth as a piece of 
leather, 

"The march, in double file, was often interrupted by the narrow- 
ness of our mountain paths, as they were called, for we had no 
roads, and these difficulties were often increased by the good and 
sometimes the ill-will of neighbors by felling trees and tying grape- 
vines across the way. Sometimes an ambuscade was formed by 
the wayside, and an unexpected discharge of several guns took 



126 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

place, so as to cover tlie wedding party with smoke. Let the reader 
imagine the scene which followed this discharge ; the sudden spring 
of the horses, the shrieks of the girls and the chivalrous bustle of 
their partners to save them from falling. Sometimes, in spite of 
all that could be done to prevent it, some were thrown to the 
ground. If a wrist, elbow or ankle happened to be sprained, it was 
tied up with a handkerchief, and little more said or thought 
about it. 

"The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was 
a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes 
venison and bear meat roasted and boiled with plenty of potatoes, 
cabbage and other vegetables. During the dinner the greatest 
hilarity prevailed. The table might be a large slab of timber, 
hewed out with a broad-axe, supported by four sticks, set in auger 
holes ; and the furniture, some old pewter dishes and plates ; the 
rest, wooden bowls and trenchers: a few pewter spoons much bat- 
tered about the edges were to be seen at some tables. The rest were 
made of horn. If knives were scarce the deficiency was made up 
with scalping knives which were carried in sheaths suspended to 
the belt of the hunting shirt. Every man carried one. 

"After dinner the dancing commenced and generally lasted until 
the next morning. The figures of the dancers were three and four 
handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was 
always a square form, which was followed by what was called jig- 
ging it off; that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and 
were followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often ac- 
companied with what was called cutting out, that is, when either 
of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation, the place 
was supplied by some one of the company, without any interrup- 
tion to the dance. In this way the dance was often continued till 
the musician was heartily tired of his situation. Toward the lat- 
ter part of the night, if any of the company through weariness at- 
tempted to conceal themselves for the purpose of sleeping, they 
were hunted up, paraded on the floor, and the fiddler ordered to 
play, 'Hang out till to-morrow morning.' 

"About nine or ten o'clock a deputation of young ladies stole 
off the bride and put her to bed. In doing this it frequently hap- 
pened that they had to ascend a ladder, instead of a pair of stairs, 



Southwest Virginia, llJiG-llSG. 127 

leading from the dining and ball room to a loft, the floor of 
which was made of clapboards lying loose. 

"This ascent, one might think, would put the bride and her 
attendants to the blush; but the foot of the ladder was commonly 
behind the door, which was purposely opened for the occasion, 
and its rounds at the inner ends were well hung with hunting- 
shirts, dresses and other articles of clothing. The candles being 
on the opposite side of the house, the exit of the bride was noticed 
but by few. 

"This done, a deputation of young men, in like manner, stole 
off the groom and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. The 
dance still continued ; and if seats happened to be scarce, as- was 
often the case, every young man when not engaged in the dance, 
was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls; and the 
offer was sure to be accepted. In the midst of this hilarity the 
bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty late in the night 
some one would remind the company that the new couple must 
stand in need of some refreshments. Black Betty, which was the 
name of the bottle, was called for and sent up the ladder; but 
sometimes Black Betty did not go alone. I have sometimes seen 
as much bread, beef, pork and cabbage sent along as would afford 
a good meal for half a dozen hungry men. The young couple 
were compelled to eat and drink more or less of whatever was 
offered. 

"But to return: it often happened that some neighbors or rela- 
tions, not being asked to the wedding, took offence, and the 
mode of revenge adopted by them on such occasions was that 
of cutting off the manes, foretops, and tails of the horses of the 
wedding company. 

"On returning to the infare, the order of procession and the 
race for Black Betty was the same as before. The feasting and 
dancing often lasted several days, at the end of which the whole 
company were so exhausted with loss of sleep that many days' 
rest were requisite to fit them to return to their ordinary labors." 

HUNTING. 

"This constituted one of the greatest amusements, and, in many 
instances, one of the chief employments of the early settlers. The 
various intrigues of a skillful hunter, such as mimicking a turkey, 



128 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

owl, wolf, deer, etc., were soon learned, and the eye was taught 
to catch, at a glance, the faintest impressions left upon the earth 
by any animal. Marks which would be by any but a hunter 
overlooked were easily detected. The times and grounds on 
which elk, deer, etc., fed were soon learned, and then the important 
lesson of preventing spells or enchantments by enemies was 
studied, for it is a singular fact that all hunters are more or less 
superstitious. Frequently, on leaving home, the wife would throw 
the axe at her husband to give him good luck. If he chanced to 
fail to kill game, his gun was enchanted or spelled, and some old 
woman was shot in effigy, then a silver bullet would be run with a 
needle through it and shot at her picture. To remove these spells, 
they would sometimes unbreech their rifles, and lay them in a 
clear running stream for a certain number of days. If this failed, 
they would borrow patching from some other hunter, which 
transferred all the bad luck to the lender, etc. 

"Game was plenty at the time this country was first settled by 
the whites, and, acordingly, the woods furnished most of the 
meat. The elks and buffaloes were generally killed at the licks 
whither they repaired to salt themselves. Animals were hunted 
there not merely for their meat, but for their skins and furs. 
These served to pay for powder, lead, or anything else, being nomi- 
nally the currency of the country. 

"ISTeither was hunting a mere pastime, devoid of skill, as it now 
is. The hunter might be considered somewhat of a meteorologist; 
he paid particular attention to the winds, rains, snows, and frosts, 
for almost every change altered the location of the game. He 
knew the cardinal points of the compass by the thick bark and 
moss on the north side of a tree, so that during the darkest and 
most gloomy night he knew which was the north, and so the 
direction of his home or camp. 

"The natural habits of the deer were well studied ; and hence he 
knew at what times they fed, etc. If, in hunting, he found a deer 
at feed, he stopped, and though he might be open to it, did not seek 
to obscure himself, but waited till it raised its head and looked 
at him. He remained motionless till the deer, satisfied that 
nothing was in sight, again commenced feeding. He then began 
to advance, if he had the wind of it, and if not, he retreated and 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 129 

came up another way, so as to place the deer between himself and 
tlie wind. As long as the deer's head was down, he continued to 
advance till he saw it shake the tail. In a moment he was the same 
motionless object, till again it pnt down its head. In this way he 
would soon approach to within sixty yards, when his unerring rifle 
did the work of death. It is a curious fact that deer never put 
their heads to the ground, or raise it, without shaking the tail be- 
fore doing so."* 

*Bickley. 



130 Southwest Virginia, 17J/-6-17S6. 

CHAPTEE VI. 

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA— FINCASTLE COUNTY. 

1773-1777. 

The House of Burgesses of Virginia in the fall of the year 
1772, in answer to the petition of the inhabitants and settlers on 
the waters of the Holston and New rivers, representing their in- 
conveniences by reason of the extent of Botetourt county and their 
remote situation from the courthouse, with the consent of the 
Governor and Council enacted a law providing that from and 
after the first day of December, 1772, the said county of Bote- 
tourt should be divided into two distinct counties; that is to say, 
all that part of said county within a line to run up the east side 
of New river to the mouth of Culberson creek, thence a direct line 
to the Catawba road where it crosses the dividing ridge between 
the north fork of Roanoke and the waters of New river, thence 
with the top of the ridge to the bend where it turns eastwardly, 
thence a south course, crossing Little river to the top of the Blue 
Ridge mountain, shall be established as one distinct county, to be 
called and known by the name of Fincastle ; and all that other part 
thereof which lies to the east and northeast of said line shall be 
one other distinct county and retain the name of Botetourt. The 
act establishing Fincastle did not designate the place of holding 
the court of the county, but, by order of the Governor of the 
Colony, the Lead Mines, now in Wythe county, Virginia, was desig- 
nated as the county seat of the new county.* 

Pursuant to a commission from the Governor of the Colony 
bearing date December 1, 1772, directed to 

William Preston, William Inglis, 

William Christian, John Montgomery, 

Stephen Trigg, Robert Doach, 

Walter Crockett, James McGavock, 

Anthony Bledsoe, James Thompson, 

Arthur Campbell, William Russell, 

Benjamin Estill, Samuel Crockett, 

Alexander McKee, 



*8 Hen. Stat., page 600. 



Southwest Virginia. 17J,0-37SG. 131 

the first Comity Court for Fineastle comity assembled at the 
Lead Mines, on New river, in the i)resent county of Wythe, on 
the 5th day of January, 1773. Tlie following nv'inbers of the 
court being present: 

Arthur Campbell, James Thompson, 

William Preston, William Inglis, 

William Christian, Stephen Trigg, 

Walter Crockett, James McGavock. 

Arthur Campbell and James Thompson administered the oath 
to William Preston and William Inglis, and they to: 

William Christian, Stephen Trigg, 

Eobert Doach, Walter Crockett, 

James McGavock, James Thompson, 

Arthur Campbell. 

Subsequently in the year 1773, William Campbell, James Mc- 
Corkle and William Herbert were commissioned and qualified as 
members of the court. The following officers of the new county 
qualified on that day : 

Sheriff Fincastle count}', 
William Preston. 

Deputy Sheriffs : 
Daniel Trigg, John Floyd, 

James Thompson, Henry Moore. 

Surveyor Fincastle County, 
William Preston. 

Deputy Surveyors : 
John Floyd, Eobert Preston, 

Daniel Smith, Eobert Doach, 

William Eussell, James Douglas. 

Clerk Fincastle county, 
John Byrd. 

Deputy Clerks: 
William Christian, 
Stephen Trigg, 
Eichard Madison, 



132 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

King's Counsel or Dept. Attorney : 
John Aylett, Jan. 5th, 1773. 
Thomas Madison, May 3rd, 1774. 

The following attorneys qualified in this court during the exist- 
ence of the county: 

Ephraim Dunlop, Luke Bowyer, 

John May, John Todd, 

Harry Innes, Charles Simm, 

John Aylett, Gabriel Jones, 

Benjamin Lawson, Thomas Madison. 

On the first day of the court many interesting orders were en- 
tered, several of the number being here copied as entered : 

"The Court doth appoint the house adjoining the Court House, 
where the court is now held, for a prison, which house William 
Preston, Sherifl", doth protest against as insufficient. 

"Ordered that Stephen Trigg send for weights and measures 
for the use of the said county, as soon as possible and on as low 
terms as he sells goods to his best customers on." 

"Ordered that John Byrd do provide all necessary law books for 
this county, and that he bring in his charge." 

A number of orders were entered by the court on the first day 
of its existence, in regard to that section of Fincastle county lying 
upon the waters of the Holston and Clinch rivers. 

Leave was given Francis Whitney and William Kennedy to 
erect mills on the properties on which they lived, on the Holston 
river and the waters of Holston river. 

In this connection it is worthy of notice, that at the time per- 
mission was given to Kennedy and Whitney to erect their mills, 
there was but one mill on the waters of the Holston, so far as the 
records show, to-wit: the mill of Arthur Campbell at Eoyal Oak. 

"It is further ordered by the court that William Edmiston, 
George Adams, John Beaty, Joseph Drake, David Snodgrass and 
James Kincannon, or any three of them, being first sworn, do view 
the nighest and best way from the Town House (now in Smyth 
County, Va.,) to the Eighteen Mile creek (now Abingdon), and 
report." 

It seems that there was some contention among the settlers on 
Holston as to the location of this road; for, on the 2nd day of 



Southivest Virginia, 111^6-1786. 133 

March, 1773, the above order was set aside by the court, and on 
tliat day it was ordered that John Hays, Benjamin Logan, William 
Campbell, Ai-thur Bowen and Thomas Eanisey, or any three of 
them, being first sworn, do view the several ways proposed for said 
road and make a report of the conveniences and inconveniences 
attending the same. The viewers thus appointed made their re- 
port to the County Court on July 6, 1773, recommending that the 
lower road be established, which report was confirmed and the road 
established, and William Campbell, William Edmiston and James 
Bryan were appointed overseers of the said road. 

The above is all the information that the records contain of the 
controversy in regard to the establishment of this road, but I ap- 
prehend that the action of the court in establishing the road as 
they did had considerable bearing in settling the future location 
of the county seat of Washington county at i\.bingdon. 

Upon the second day of the court it was recommended to his 
Excellency the Governor that he will be pleased to establish the 
courthouse for this county at a piece of land commonly called 
McCall's place, now t]ie property of Eoss & Co., and the lands 
of Samuel Crockett, in lieu of the Lead Mines, for the several 
reasons following: 

That the said McCall's place and Crockett's lies on the Great 
Eoad that passes through the county, and that it is well watered, 
timbered and level. 

That it is more central than the mines, and that it is in the 
neighborhood of a great deal of good lands and meadows. 

That the Lead ]\Iines are near the south line of the county, that 
tliere is no spring convenient, the place is very bare of timber and 
in a neighborhood where there is very little pasture, and it is 
certainly off the leading road. 

From which order Arthur Campbell dissented. 

While the records are to some extent indefinite as to the action 
of the Governor upon this petition, it is clear that the county seat 
was not removed from the Lead Mines during the existence of 
the county of Fincastle, as is evident from other records that 
have a bearing upon this subject. 

The County Court on March 2, 1774, entered the following 
order : 

"Ordered that tlie rarveyor lay off the prison bounds, and that 



134 Southwest Virginia, 17JfO-1786. 

he include all the houses and some part of the waters." This 
clearly applied to the Lead Mines. 

The act of the Legislature of Virginia establishing Montgomery 
county directed that the county seat should be Fort Chiswell, and 
one of the first orders of that court was to appoint commissioners to 
contract for and superintend the erection of a courthouse. 

The above facts, when taken in connection with the circumstance 
that Fort Chiswell was at no time mentioned in the records of the 
County Court of Fincastle county, except in the petition above set 
out, are conclusive in regard to this matter. 

On May 2, 1773, the court ordered that Robert Davis, Alexan- 
der Wylie, Eobert Buchanan, and Hugh Gallion, any three of 
wliom l)eing duly sworn, do view the nighest way from James Davis' 
(at the head spring of the Middle Fork of the Holston) to James 
Catherine's (near the head spring of the South Fork of the Hol- 
ston), but the records of Fincastle fail to show that this road was 
established. 

The next order of importance entered by the court was on May 
5, 1773, when the court ordered that Isaac Eiddle, Wesley White, 
James Young and James Montgomery do view the nighest and best 
way from Eleven Mile creek, on Holston, by Jones' place at the 
crossing place, going to Watauga, and report. 

The commissioners made their report on July 6, 1773, and the 
road was established, and James Montgomery, James Young and 
Isaac Eiddle were appointed overseers. 

On March 3, 1773, James McCarthy, Matthew Mounts, John 
Smith, Thomas Byrd, Nathan Eicherson and Peter Lee, or any 
three of them, l^eing first sworn, were ordered to view the nighest 
and best way from the Town House on Holston to Castle's Woods 
on Clinch river, and make report. 

The commissioners made their report on July 6, 1773, and the 
road was partially established, beginning at John Dunkin's in Elk 
Garden, thence over the mountains to Poor Valley, about five miles 
to the westward of the old path, and from thence by the Big Lick, 
through Lyon's Gap to the Town Hovise. 

On March 2, 1773, the court directed John Maxwell, Eobert Al- 
lison and Eobert Campbell, or any three of them, to view the 
nighest and best way from Catherine's Mill to Charles Allison's, 
and so on to Sinclair's Bottom, and report. 



Sonthwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 135 

On July 6, 1773, the commissioners reported, and the court di- 
rected a road to be established from Catherine's Mill to Charles 
Allison's house on the condition that the people on the South Fork, 
or any others on same road who think it useful, do cut the same 
themselves. 

On the same day the court ordered that William Edmiston, 
Kobert Edmiston, Alexander McNutt, Robert Buchanan, and John 
Edmiston, any three of whom may act, do view a road from Charles 
Allison's house down the South Fork to Robert Edmiston's house 
and report. 

On May 5, 1773, the County Court directed Arthur Camp- 
bell to take a list of the tithables on the CUinch river and on all its 
forks, as low as the Elk Garden, and on the Wolf Hill creek. 

And William Russell to take a list of the tithables from the 
Elk Garden, on the Clinch, down to the county line. 

And Anthony Bledsoe to take a list of the tithables from Cap- 
tain Campbell's down to the county line, on the North, South, and 
Middle Forks of Holston river. 

And that Captain James Thompson do take a list of the tith- 
ables in Captain William Campbell's company. 

On May 4, 1773, the court directed James Hays, John Hays, 
Archibald Buchanan, and Robert Davis to view the nighest and 
Ijest way by Robert Davis' into the leading road from Holston. 

At the meeting of the County Court on July 6, 1773, Jonathan 
Jenning was fined forty shillings for speaking of the court with 
contempt and saying that they were self-interested and partial. 

And on the same day Stephen Trigg, James McCorkle, Walter 
Crockett and James McGavock were directed to agree with work- 
men to repair the second house froui the courthouse for a prison 
in such manner as is necesssary. 

And on the 9th day of July, 1773, Joseph Black, Andrew Col- 
vill, Samuel Ewen, William Blackburn, George Blackburn, Samuel 
Briggs, Davis Galloway, John Berry, Christopher Acklin, John 
Keswick, John Vance and Benjamin Logan were directed to clear 
the nearest and best way from Samuel Brigg's, on Eighteen Mile 
creek, to James Bryan's, on Eleven Mile creek. 

On November 3, 1773, on the petition of a number of the in- 
habitants, it was ordered that William Priest, Henry Willis, Jo- 
seph Martin, William Bowen and Joseph Craven, any three of 



136 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

whom may act, after being duly sworn, do view the best way from 
Maiden Springs settlement (now in Tazewell county) into the 
Great Road. 

No further orders pertaining to Washington county were en- 
tered by the court until March 2, 1774, on which day Patrick Por- 
ter was given leave to build a mill on Falling creek, the waters 
of Clinch river, this being the first mill erected on Clinch river, 
so far as the records disclose. 

On the same day, on the motion of Charles Allison, leave was 
given him to build a mill on his land, on the Soutli Fork of IIol- 
ston, near the head spring. 

On the same day the court appointed Andrew Miller and Thomas 
Ramsay commissioners to view the nighest and best way from 
Thomas Ramsay's, by Kennedy's mill, to the Great Road. 

At a meeting of the court on May 3, 1774, the court, on the 
petition of the inhabitants of Beaver creek, ordered Benjamin Ijo- 
gan to open a road from James Fulkerson's to the wagon road at 
Joseph Black's (now Abingdon), the b(!st and most convenient way. 

On the same day the court directed Anthony Bledsoe to take a 
list of the tithables in Captains Looney's, Shelby's, and Cocke's com- 
panies, William Campbell in his own and Captain Arthur Camp- 
bell's companies, and William Russell in his own and Captain 
Smith's companies. 

The County Court of Fincastle county was composed of men of 
dignity and respectability, and they purposed to deal with the at- 
torneys practicing at their bar in such a manner as to command 
the respect of the bar and the citizens of the county, and, as an 
evidence of the manner in whicli they dealt with the members of 
the legal profession, we here co])y an order made l)y tliis <'oupt on 
May 3, 1774: 

"John Gabriel Jones, having misbehaved himself in the court, it 
is ordered that for his contempt he make his fine with our Lord, 
the King, by the payment of twenty shillings, and that he be 
taken," etc. 

On the same day a peculiar order was entered, which read as 
follows : 

"John Dougherty came into court, and, it being fully proved 
that his left ear had been bitten off by a person in an affray, it is 
ordered that the same be recorded." It is hard to perceive his ob- 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 137 

ject in niakiug this proof and liaving it recorded unless there ex- 
isted at that time, or at an earlier date, some law or custom by 
which criminals lost their ears. 

At the August term of this court it was directed that a road be 
built from Arthur Campbell's mill to Blue Spring, at the head 
of Cripple creek, by way of Eye Bottom, and on August 3d, being 
the same day as the above order, the court directed a road to be 
built from Arthur Campbell's mill to Archibald Buchanan's, on 
the North Fork of Holston river. 

In the preceding pages we have given a great deal of the records 
of the County Court of Fincastle county directing the opening of 
the first roads and granting permission to erect the first jnills on 
the waters of the Holston and Clinch rivers, and it cannot be other- 
wise than interesting, for, previously to the opening of these roads, 
the early settlers of this country, as a general rule, were compelled 
to follow the Indian and buffalo trails made before their advent. 

The main trail down the Holston and through Washington 
county was, from the very earliest time of which we have any 
record, called the Great Eoad. Before the erection of the first mills 
on the waters of the Holston, if the early settlers wished to have 
meal, it could be obtained in one way only, and that by cracking 
the grains of corn with a hammer or by some other similar method. 

The first deed executed to any of the settlers on the Holston was 
dated January 5, 1773, and was made by Edmund Pendleton. It 
conveyed to Benjamin Logan and John Sharp 676 acres of land 
situated on Beaver creek, alias Shallow creek, and was the same 
land surveyed by John Buchanan for Edmund Pendleton on April 
3, 1750. 

On the same day Edmund Pendleton conveyed to William 
Cocke and Robert Craig 950 acres of land situated on Spring 
creek, alias Renfro's creek, being the same land surveyed by John 
Buchanan, deputy surveyor of Augusta county, for Edmund 
Pendleton on April 2, 1750, and described in the survey as lying 
on Renfro's creek. This survey covered a considerable part of the 
farms now owned and occupied by C. L. Clyce, Jerry Whitaker, 
Allen Lester and H. B. Roberts on Spring creek. 

The four conveyances above described are older by more than 
one year and three months than any others to be found in the pres- 



138 Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 

cnt bounds of Washington county, the next oldest conveyance 
bearing date April 14, 1774. 

It may be interesting at this point to know the oath required of 
the members of the first County Court administering justice among 
the settlers upon the Holston. We here copy the oath : 

"You shall swear that as a justice of the peace in the county 
of Fincastle in all articles in the commission to you directed, you 
shall do equal right to the \)0()v and to the rich, after your cunning, 
wit and power according to law; and you shall not be of any 
counsel of any quarrel hanging before you, and the issues, fines and 
amercements that shall happen to be made, and all the forfeitures 
which shall fall before you, you shall cause to be entered, without 
any concealment or embezzling; you shall not let for gift or other 
causes, but well and truly you shall do your office of justice of the 
peace, as well within your county court as without; and you shall 
not take any gift, fee or gratuity, for anything to be done by vir- 
tue of your office, and you shall not direct or cause to be directed, 
any warrant by you to be made to the parties, but you shall direct 
tliem to the Sheriif, or bailiffs of said county, or other the King's 
officers or ministers, or other indifferent persons, to do execution 
thereof, so help you God."' 

The oath of a justice of the County (*ourt in Chancery was as 
follows : 

"You shall swear that well and truly you will serve our sovereign 
lord, the King, and his people, in the office of a justice of the county 
court of Fincastle in Chancery, and that you will do equal right to 
all manner of people, great and small, high and low, rich and poor, 
according to equity and good conscience and the laws and usages 
of this colony and dominion of Virginia, without favor, affection 
or partiality. So help you God.''* 

A considerable number of people had settled in the immediate 
vicinity of Abingdon, and eastward to the head waters of the Hol- 
ston, and in the beginning of this year two congregations of Pres- 
byterians had organized in the county — one at Sinking Spring 
(now Abingdon) and another at Ebbing Spring, on the Middle 
Fork of the Holston river, near the James Byars farm ; and in the 
Tnonth of April, 177;3, Samuel Edmiston was commissioned by the 
two congregations above mentioned to present, a call to the Eev. 



*5 Hen. Stat., pages 489-490. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 139 

Charles Cmninings at the Revcreud Presbytery of Hanover when 
sitting at the Tinkling Springs, in Augusta county. This call was 
reduced to writing and signed by the members of the Sinking 
Spring and Ebbing Spring congregations. It was presented to 
the Presbytery by Samuel Edmiston for the services of Mr. Cum- 
mings at Brown's meeting-house, in Augusta county, on June 2, 
1773. The call with the signatures thereto is as follo.ws : 

"A call from the united congregations of Ebbing, and Sinking 
springs, on Holston's river, Fincastle county, to be presented to the 
Rev. Charles Cummings, minister of the gospel, at the Reverend 
Presbytery of Hanover when sitting at the Tinkling Spring: 

Worthy and Dear Sir, — We, being in very destitute circum- 
stances for want of the ordinances of Christ's house statedly ad- 
ministered amongst us ; many of us under very distressing spiritual 
languishments ; and multitudes perishing in our sins for want of 
the I)read of life broken among us ; our Sabbaths too much pro- 
faned, or at least wasted in melancholy silence at home, our hearts 
and hands discouraged, and our spirits broken with our mournful 
condition, so that human language cannot sufficiently paint. Hav- 
ing had the happiness, by the good providence of God, of enjoying 
part of your labors to our abundant satisfaction, and being uni- 
versally well satisfied by our experience of your ministerial abili- 
ties, piety, literature, prudence and peculiar agreeableness of your 
(jualifications to us in particular as a gospel minister — we do, 
worthy and dear sir, from our very hearts, and with the most cor- 
dial affection and unanimity agree to call, invite and entreat you to 
undertake the office of a pastor among us, and the care and charge 
of our precious souls, and upon your accepting of this our call, we 
do promise that we will receive the word of God from your mouth, 
attend on your ministry, instruction and reproofs, in public and 
private, and submit to the discipline which Christ has appointed 
in his church, administered by you while regulated by the word of 
God and agreeable to our confession of faith and directory. And 
that you may give yourself wholly up to the important work of the 
ministry, we hereby promise to pay you annually the sum of ninety 
pounds from the time of your accepting this our call ; and that we 
shall behave ourselves towards you with all that dutiful respect 
and affection that becomes a people towards their uiinister, using 
all means within our power to render your life comfortable and 



140 



Southwest Virginia,, 17^6-1780. 



happy. We entreat you, worthy and clear sir, to have compassion 
ii};on us in this remote part of the world, and accept this our call 
and invitation to the pastoral charge of our precious and immor- 
tal souls, and we shall hold ourselves bound to pray. 



George Blackburn, 
Wm. Blackburn, 
John Vance, 
John Casey, 
Benjamin Logan, 
Eobert Edmiston, 
Thomas Berry, 
Eobert Trimble, 
Wm. McGaughey, 
David Dryden, 
Wm. McFabb, 
John Davis, 
Halbert McClure, 
Arthur Blackburn, 
ISTathl, Davis, 
Saml. Evans, 
AVm. Kennedy, 
Andrew McFerran, 
Saml. Hendry, 
John Patterson, 
James Gilmore, 
John Lowry, 
Wm. Christian, 
Andrew Colville, 
"Robert Craig, 
Joseph Black, 
Jonathan Douglass?, 
John Cusick, 
Eobert Gamble, 
Andrew Martin, 
Augustus Webb, 
Samuel Briggs, 
Wesley White, 
James Dorchester, 
James Fulkerson, 



John Long, 
Eobert Topp, 
John Hunt, 
Thomas Bailey, 
David Getgood, 
Alex. Breckenridge, 
George Clark, 
James Molden, 
William Blanton, 
James Craig, 
Thomas Sharp, 
John Berry, 
James Montgomery, 
Samuel Houston, 
Henry Creswell, 
George Adams, 
George Buchanan, 
James Dysart, 
William Miller, 
Andrew Deeper, 
David Snodgrass, 
Danl. McCormick, 
Francis Kincannon, 
Jos. Snodgrass, 
James Thompson, 
Eobert Denniston, 
William Edmiston, 
Saml. Edmiston, 
Andrew Kincannon, 
John Kelley, 
John Eobinson, 
James Kincannon, 
Margaret Edmiston, 
John Edmiston, 
John Bovd, 



David Carson, 
Samuel Buchanan, 
William Bates, 
William McMillin, 
John Kennedy, 
Eobert Lamb, 
Thos. Eafferty, 
Thomas Baker, 
John Groce, 
Eobert Buchanan, 
Chrisr. Acklin, 
Joseph Gamble, 
John McNabb, 
Chris. Funkhouser, 
John Funkhouser, Sr., 
John Funkhouser, Jr., 
Thomas Evans, 
William Marlor, 
Wm. Edmiston, 
Thos Edmiston, 
John Beaty, 
David Beaty, 
George Teator, 
Michl. Halfacre, 
Stephen Cawood, 
James Garvell, 
Eob. Buchanan, Jr., 
Edward Jamison, 
l^icholas Brobston, 
Alexander McNutt, 
William Pruitt, 
John McCutchen, 
James Berry, 
James Trimble, 
Eichard Heggons, 



Southwest Virginia, llJfO-llSG. 



141 



Stephen Jordan, 
Alex. Laughlin, 
James Inglish, 
Richard Moore, 
Thomas Ramsey, 
Samuel Wilson, 
Joseph Vance, 
William Young, 
William Davidson, 
James Young, 
John Sharp, 



Robert Kirkham, 
Martin Pruitt, 
Andrew Miller, 
William Berry, 
James Piper, 
James Harrold, 
Saml, JSTewell, 
David Wilson, 
David Craig, 
William Berry, 
Moses Buchanan, 



John Lester, 
Hugh Johnson, 
Edward Pharis, 
Joseph Lester, 
Saml. White, 
William Lester, 
William Poage, 
Saml. Buchanan, 
Thos. Montgomery, 
Samuel Bell, 
John Campbell. 



This call was accepted by Mr. Cummings, but no record is pre- 
served of any installation being appointed or performed. It was 
intended that this call should have been presented at a session of 
the Presbytery in the preceding April, but, for some cause, it was 
delayed until the following June. Having accepted this call, he 
removed his family to the Holston, and settled upon three hundred 
acres of land on the head waters of Wolf Hill creek, which he pur- 
chased from Dr. Thomas Walker for the consideration of thirty- 
three pounds, and which land was conveyed to him by Dr. Walker 
by a deed dated April 14, 1774. 

We hope our readers will indulge us if we pause at this place 
to remark that every acre of this three-hundred-acre tract of land 
is to-day, 129 years thereafter, in the possession of the direct lineal 
descendants of the Rev. Charles Cummings. A remarkable fact. 

As soon as he had settled his family on the Holston, he set about 
the performance of the duties pertaining to his station with all the 
energy and intelligence of which he was capable. He purchased 
from Dr. Tliomas Walker, for five shillings, by estimation, fifty- 
five acres of land, which land was deeded by Dr. Walker "to the 
minister and congregation of the Sinking Spring Church and 
their successors for the time being on April 14, 1774. This tract 
of land was bounded as follows : Beginning at a red oak corner to 
Andrew Colvill, running thence E. 10 poles to a white oak, IST. 
20', E. 130 poles to a hickory; tlience N. 31', W. 48 poles to a 
chestnut on a higli ridge, S. 53', W. 96 poles to a chestnut and a 
white oak on the side of said ridge, S. 35', E. 46 poles to a large 
white oak, S. 40', W. 28 poles to a black oak near Sinking Spring, 



142 Southwest Virginia, lUfG-nSG. 

S. 30', E. 48 poles to a white oak; thence E. 12 poles to the be- 
ginning."* 

A considerable part of nortlnvest Abingdon is built upon this 
same tract of land. 

The first meeting house of the Sinking Spring congregation was 
erected on the first rise in the present cemetery in the rear of the 
Martin vault, and was a very large cabin of unhewn logs. It was 
from 80 to 100 feet long and about 40 feet wide, and had a very \ 
remarkable appearance. 

Governor David Campbell, in speaking of the men who signed 
this call, says: "In early life I knew personally many of those j 
whose names are signed to it, and I knew nearly all of them from 
character." 

They were a most respectable body of men, were all Whigs in the 
revolution, and nearly all, probably every one of them, performed 
military service against the Indians, and a large portion of them 
against the British in the battles of King's Mountain, Guilford 
Courthouse, and other actions in North and South Carolina. 

Such was the character of the first men who inhabited our 
county and worshipped in this, the first place of worship, on all the 
waters of the Holston and Clinch. 

Daniel Boone again visited the waters of the Holston in the 
fall of this year. The Boones and five other families set out from 
their homes on the Yadkin river, IST. C, on September 25, 1773. 
They passed through Washington county and on into Powell's 
Valley (on their way to Kentucky), where they were joined by 
William Bryan, with forty other people. W'hile this body of emi- 
grants were leisurely traveling through Powell's Valley a small 
company, under James Boone, Daniel Boone's eldest son, left the 
main body and went to the home of William Eussell to secure pro- 
visions, and on the 9th of October James Boone and his company, 
among the number being Eussell's son Henry and two slaves, en- 
camped a few miles in the rear of the main body. At this point 
they were, the next day, waylaid by a small company of Shawnese 
and Cherokee Indians, who were supposed to be at peace with the 
white settlers. On the morning of the 10th James Boone and his 
entire company were captured, and, after cruel torture, were slaught- 
ered. After this occurrence Daniel Boone's company of emigrants 



*Deed Book "A," page — , Fincastle county. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 143 

broke up and returned to the settlements, and Daniel Boone and his 
family returned to the home of William liussell, near Castle's 
Woods, on CUinch river, about forty miles distant, and took up their 
residence in an empty cabin on the farm of Captain David Glass, 
seven or eight miles from William Eussell's, where they spent the 
winter of 177;M774. Daniel Boone had twice, previously to this 
time, ^^sited the Kentucky wilderness, and had decided to settle in 
the beautiful country which he had visited. And thus rudely were 
his first efforts frustrated. 

The motive actuating the Indians in making this assault must 
have been jealousy of these, the first emigrants to Kentucky. They 
could not have had for their object the securing of plunder alone, 
for the Indians had long lived in peace with the white settlers 
without any effort to murder or burn. In this assault six men, 
including Boone's son, were slain, and their cattle and plunder 
secured and carried off. 

We have now reached the time when the eyes of all frontiersmen 
were fixed upon the fertile lands lying beyond the Cumberland 
mountains. The Kentucky wilderness was no longer visited by 
the hunter alone, but the explorer and the settler were seeking an 
opportunity to acquire a future home in the new country. 

A distinguished author, in speaking of the condition of the 
Indians at that time, says : "Eccently they had been seriously 
alarmed by the tendency of the whites to encroach on the great 
hunting groimds south of the Ohio, for here and there hunters and 
settlers were already beginning to build cabins along the course of 
that stream," and in another place the same author speaks as fol- 
lows : "The savages grew continually more hostile, and in the fall 
of 1773 their attacks became so frequent that it was evident a 
general outbreak was at hand. Eleven people were murdered in 
the county of Fincastle alone. The Shawnese were the leaders in 
all these outrages. Thus the spring of 1774 opened with every- 
thing ripe for an explosion. The Virginia borderers were fear- 
fully exasperated, and were ready to take vengeance upon any In- 
dian, whether peaceful or hostile, while the Shawnese and Mingoes, 
on their side, were arrogant and overbearing, and yet alarmed at 
the continual advance of the whites."* 

The Virginia Colony was at peace with the Cherokees, and 



»The Winning of the West, Vol. I., pages 250-2.52. 



144 Southivest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

most of the Indians' depredations during the year 1774-1775 
were committed by the northwest Indians. 

A Mr. Russell and five of his companions were murdered by the 
Indians in the fall of the year 1773 in Fincastle county, and about 
the same time two men, by the name of Cochran and Foley, and 
a man by the name of Hayes, with his three companions, were 
murdered by the Indians, but as to the locality of these murders 
or the circumstances attending them we have no information.! 

In the course of the summer of 1774, a number of the citizens 
of Fincastle county were captured and killed by the northern In- 
dians, among the number being Thomas Hogg and two men near 
the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and Walter Kelly, with three or 
four other persons, below the falls of the Great Kanawha. William 
Kelly and a young woman were captured on Muddy creek, a branch 
of Green river. Kelly was killed and the young woman carried 
into captivity. During this same summer a man by the name of 
Shockley, a scout employed by the County Court of Fincastle 
county, was shot and killed, and on the 7th day of August, 1774, 
the house of one John Lybrook, situated on Sinking creek in tlie 
present county of Craig, was attacked by the Indians. Lybrook 
was wounded in the arm, and only saved his life by hiding in a 
cave. Three of his children (one of them a sucking infant), a 
young woman, a daughter of one Scott, and a child of widow 
Snidow were killed. All the children were scalped but one, and 
were, mangled in a most cruel manner. At the same time and in 
the same community, John and Jacob Snidow and a younger 
brother, whose name is not known, were captured and made pris- 
oners. Two of the brothers escaped from the Indians on the fol- 
lowing Wednesday, but the other was carried into captivity and 
remained with the Indians until he acquired their habits and be- 
came so fond of their manner of life that he ever afterwards lived^>! 
among them. At the same time a Miss Margaret McKinsie was 
captured and carried into captivity, where she remained for eighteen 
years, at the end of which time she returned to New river and 
married a Mr. Benjamin Hall. 

The white settlers near Pittsburg were on very bad terms with 
the northwest Indians. On the last day of April, 1774, a small 
company of Indians left the camp of the Indian Chief Logan, at 



|Wm. Preston Mss. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 145 

Yellow creek, aud crossed the river to visit a man by the name of 
Greathonse, a place which they had been accustomed to visit for 
the purpose of buying rum from the whites. The Indians were 
made drunk with liquor, and while in this condition were cruelly 
murdered by Greathouse and his associates. Nine Indians in all 
were murdered at this tiuie, among tlie number being the entire 
family of the Indian Chief Logan. Logan had always been the 
friend of the white man, and had always been exceedingly kind and 
gentle to women and children, notwithstanding the fact that some 
of his relatives had been killed by the whites some years before. 
Logan was a skilled marksman and a mighty hunter of com- 
manding dignity, who treated all men with a grave courtesy and 
exacted the same treatment in return. He was greatly liked and 
respected by all the white hunters and frontiersmen whose friend- 
ship and respect were worth having. They admired him for his 
dexterity and prowess, and they loved him for his straightforward 
honesty and his noble loyalty to his friends.* 

This last stroke was more than Logan could stand. He at- 
ti-ibuted his misfortune to Captain Cresap, and he began at once 
to raid the settlements with small bands of Indians. This raid 
was upon the settlers of the Holston and the Clinch. On his first 
expedition he took thirteen scalps, six of the number being chil- 
dren. He was pursued and overtaken by a party of men com- 
manded by a man by the name of McClure, but he ambushed and 
defeated them on McClure's creek, now in Dickenson county, and 
it was from this occurrence that the creek obtained its name. 
Again, during the same year, he visited the waters of Holston, 
within twelve miles of the present location of Bristol, and cap- 
tured and murdered many families. At the house of one Eoberts, 
whose family was cut ofl', Logan left a war-club, to which was tied 
a note, which read as follows : 

"Captain Cresap, — What did you kill my people on Yellow 
creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga a great 
while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin 
again on Yellow creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I 
thought I must kill, too, and I have been three times to war since; 
but the Indians are not angry, only myself. 

July 21, 1774. "Capt-ain John Logan." 



'Winning of the West, Vol. I., page 256. 



1H\ 



Soidhwest Virginia, 17JfG-17S6. 



V\'h\\o the settlers at Pittsburg provoked this difficulty, it seems 
that tlu! settlers on the Jlolston and Clinch were the principal 
sufferers thereby. 

Numerous surveyors, with their instruments, visited Kentucky 
during this year. Among the number were James Douglas, Han- 
cock Taylor, Isaac Bledsoe, and John Floyd. The last named left 
the home of Colonel William Preston at Smithfield on April 9, 
1774, accompanied by eight men. They passed down the Kanawha 
river to the Ohio, where they were informed by a company they 
met that an Indian war was probable; notwithstanding which in- 
formation they continued their explorations, surveying many tracts 
of land on the Ohio and in the present State of Kentucky. We here 
give a list of a few surveys made by the men who visited Kentucky in 
this year. We copy this list from the fact that it is exceedingly 
interesting, and for the further reason that it contains the first sur- 
veys made by the white man in the present State of Kentucky : 

Notable Tracia of Land, Suneyed by John Floyd, Hancock Taylor and James Doug- 
las, in 1774-1775, lying mostly in Kentucky 



Time. 



April 25, 


1774 


" 


20, 


1774 


" 


22, 


1774 


June 


7, 


1774 


•' 


;<• 


1774 


April 15, 


1774 


June 


7 


1771 


July 


«, 


1774 




7, 


1774 




11, 


1774 




12, 


1774 




<i, 


1774 




20, 


1774 


May 


ti. 


1774 


June 


2, 


1774 



Name. 



Mitchell Clay. 
Wm. Inglls. 
Wm. Inglis. 
Col. Wm. Christian 
Jas. Mc( 'orkle. 
Col. (ifo. Washington 
•lohii Kloyd. 
Patrick Ilcnry. 
Patrick Henry. 
Wm. Christian. 
Wm. Rus.sell. 
Wm. Preston. 
Audley Paul. 
Wm. Christian. 
Wm. Byrd. 



May 24, 1774 Wm. Fleming. 

" 27, 1774 Jolin Coriin. 
June 2, 1774 Henry Harrison. 
Mar. Zi, 1774 Samuel Seott. 
Aug. 8, 1774 Andrew Lewis. 

" 16, 1774 Evan Shelby. 
May :!1, 1774 Zachary Taylor. 
June 17, 1774 Zachary Taylor. 

" 29, 1774 Adam Stephens. 



" ], 1774 John Connally. 

" 1, 1774 Wm. Byrd. 
I 

" 2, 1774 Thomas Bower. 

" 14, 1775 .lames McDowell. 

July 11, 1775 Samuel McDowell. 

June 12,1774 Wm. Cliristian. 

" 24, 1775 Jethro Sumner. 
" 3, 1774 Arthur Campbell. 
May 12, 1774 Wm. Christian 



ACBKS 



1,000 
200 
1,(100 
2,000 
1,000 
2,000 
1,000 
2,000 
8,000 
3,(100 
2,000 
1,000 
2,000 
1,000 
1,000 

3,000 

200 

1,000 

40 

2,000 

2,000 
1,0(J0 
2,000 



2,000 
1,000 

1,003 
L',(XK) 
2,000 
1,000 

2,000 
1,000 
1,000 



Location. 



Both sides Bluestone Cr., Clover Bottom. 
H'd Spring Wolf Cr., Burks Garden. 
Abbs' Valley. 
Bear Glass Creek, Br. of Ohio. 

Bank of Cole River. 

W. Bear Grass Creek. 

Elk Horn Creek, Br. of Kentucky. 



N. Br. Ky. River, 95 miles from the Ohio. 

S. Br. Kentucky River. 

N. Br. of Kentucky. 

.s. Side Ohio, 3 miles above mouth of Ky. 

About 11 miles below mouth of Ky., called 

" Mt. Byrd." 
On Ohio River. 
On Ohio, 19 miles above falls. 
On Ohio, 2>^ miles from h'd of fall. 
The Narrows, Giles County. 
Sinking Cr., H miles from Ky. River, N. 

course from Harwood Landing. 
Ell{ Horn fir.. Branch of Kentucky. 
On ( iliio, Mouth Bear Grass Creek. 
Br. K.\-. tliat empties at Great Crossing. 
N. side Ky. River and N.W. side Elk Horn 

Creek about 8 mile.s from a remarkable 

bull'alo feeding place, the Ky. River. 
S. side Oliio River opposite the falls. 
S. side Ohio, nearly opposite first island 

above the falls. 
Near falls of Ohio. 
8. Fork Licking Cr., Br. of Ohio. 
Elk Horn Cr., Br. of Kentucky. 
Salt River, 20 miles from Great Falls Inc'd 

Spring and BulTalo Lick. 
Elk Horn Creek (Sumner's Forest). 
Br. Bear Grass Cr., S. Br. Ohio. 
Big Bone Lick and Buffalo Lick. 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 147 

This is a partial list only of the many surveys made in west 
Fincastle county, now in the State of Kentucky, by Hancock Tay- 
lor, James Douglas, and" John Floyd. 

These men were sent to Kentucky by direction of the Governor 
of the Colony of Virginia, and all the lands thus located were for 
men or the assignees of men who took part in the French-Indian 
war of 1754-1763, and who acquired their rights under the King's 
proclamation of 1763. When the war with the Indians broke out 
Lord Dunuiore was exceedingly anxious to give information of that 
fact to the siirveyors, and he directed Colonel William Preston, 
who had charge of the defenses of Fincastle county, to communi- 
cate the fact to the surveyors. Colonel Preston authorized Colo- 
nel William Eussej], \\ho then lived on the Clinch river, to employ 
two faithful woodmen to go to Kentucky and convey the infor- 
nuation to the several companies of surveyors and their assistants, 
and on the 26th of June, 1774, Captain Eussell wrote Colonel 
William Preston as follows : "I have engaged to start immediately 
upon the occasion two of the best hands I could think of, Daniel 
Boone and Michael Stoner, who have engaged to reach the coun- 
try as low as the falls, and to return by way of Gasper's Lick, on 
Cumberland, and through Cumberland Gap, so that by the as- 
siduity of these men, if it be not too late, I hope the gentlemen 
will be apprized of the imminent danger they are daily in." 
Boone and Stoner set out immediately upon their trip, and warned 
Colonel James Harrod and thirty men at Harrodsburg, now Ken- 
tucky. They found another company of surveyors at Fontainebleau 
and on the Kentucky river they found Captain John Floyd 
and his men, and thence they passed to the falls of the Ohio, where 
they warned the surveyors at Mann's Lick, and, after an absence 
of sixty-one days, they reached Russell's Fort on Clinch river, 
having traveled 800 miles on foot. Captain John Floyd imme- 
diately set out for the settlements, and on the 13th day of August, 
1774, he reached the home of Colonel Preston at Smithfield, and 
reported : "That on the 8th of July he and three others parted with 
fourteen men, wlio were also engaged in the surveying business, 
and went abont twenty miles from them to finish his part of the 
work, and that they were to meet on the first day of August at a 
place on the Kentucky, known by the name of the Cabin, in order 
to proceed on their homeward journey. That on the 24th of July 



148 Southwest Virginia, 17JtG-1786. 

he, with his three men, repaired to the place appointed, where he 
found that a part, or all of the company, had assembled according 
to agreement, but had gone off in the greatest precipitation, leav- 
ing him only this notice written on a tree: 'Alarmed by. finding 
some people killed, we are gone down/ upon which he, with his 
small ])arty, iminediately set out, steering for our settlements; and 
after an extremely painful and fatiguing journey of sixteen days 
through mountains almost inaccessible and ways unknown, he at 
last arrived on Clinch river. He did not well understand the 
notice left him on the tree, whether part of the company had as- 
sembled at the Cabin, and that they had gone down to the camp in 
order to warn those who were at work in that neighborhood of 
danger, or whether the whole company had met and were departed 
down the Mississippi, as several in the company had before pro- 
posed returning home that way, with a view both to see the coun- 
try and avoid the fatigue of returning by land. The names of 
some of the party not then returned are here inserted, viz. : James 
Douglas, Hancock Taylor and Isaach Bledsoe; Surveyors John Wil- 
lis, Willis Lee, Captain John Ashby, Abraham Hempenstall, Wil- 
liam Ballard, John Green, Lawrence Darnell, Mordecai Batson, 
John Sodusky, James Strother and John Ball." 

The northwestern Indians were greatly alarmed at the encroach- 
ments of the white settlers, who were daily surveying and settling 
the lands on the banks of the Ohio and in the wilderness of Ken- 
tuck3^ The white settlers insisted that they had a right to survey 
and settle these lands imder the provisions of the treaty made with 
the confederacy of the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix in 1768, and 
they were greatly exasperated by tlie conduct of the northwestern 
Indians in denying their right to said lands and in murdering 
their people and plundering their settlements. The white settlers 
had long been restrained by the British Government from aveng- 
ing their wrongs on the Indians, and now they clamored for war. 
When the news of the disposition of the Indians reached Williams- 
burg the Governor of the Colony and the House of Burgesses of 
A^irginia immediately took steps to protect the western settlers. 

By the direction of Lord Dunmore, Lieutenant-Colonel William 
Christian, in the month of May, 1774, left Williamsburg for Fin- 
castle county with instructions to use every means possible to pre- 



Southwest Virginia, 17.^6-1786. 149 

vent the inhabitants from leaving the settlements on the approach 
of the Indian war. 

As soon as he reached his home a council of the militia officers 
was held on June 25, 1774, at the Lead Mines, at which council it 
was resolved that Lieutenant-Colonel Christian should march with 
a body of militia to the Clinch settlements. The militia was at 
once mustered in and equipped at the personal expense of Colonel 
Christian, William Preston and Major Arthur Campbell, and pro- 
ceeded to the Clinch settlements, where every preparation was 
made for war. A considerable part of this force accompanied 
Colonel Christian to Point Pleasant in the following August. Gen- 
eral Andrew Lewis was directed by Governor Dunmore to organize 
a sufficient force to carry war into the enemy's country. The organi- 
zation of this body of troops was intrusted to General Andrew 
Lewis and Colonel Charles Lewis, of Augusta county. As it would 
require some time to organize this body of troops, it was thought 
proper to send an advance guard into the enemy's country to re- 
strain the Indians while the whites were preparing, and early in 
June about 400 men, under the command of Colonel Angus Mc- 
Donald, assembled at Wheeling and immediately marched to the 
Indian grounds, on the Muskingum, with the loss of two men killed 
and eight or ten wounded. The Indians fled, and in a few days 
returned and sued for peace, but their pretensions were not sin- 
cere; and they were only delaying McDonald while they removed 
their property and their women and children beyond the reach of 
the Virginia troops. Thereupon Colonel McDonald burned the In- 
dian towns and crops and retraced his steps to Wheeling. As soon 
as the troops had retired from the Indian country small bands of 
Indians invaded the western settlements at many points. 

Many of the people of Fincastle county were murdered, and by 
the first of August all the people in Pincastle county, except a few 
of the settlers on Holston, were gathered into small forts; and 
such was the unhappy situation of the people that they could not 
attend to their plantations, nor were the scouts employed by the 
county able to investigate the inroads of the enemy, as they came 
in small parties and traveled along the mountains with great cau- 
tion. About the last of June one Knox, who went to Ohio with the 
surveyors in the spring, reached the settlements and reported: 
"That on the 13th of June one Jacob Lewis departed from the 



150 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

camp on Salt river in the morning to hunt, and had never been 
heard of since; that on the 8th of July, being at said camp, about 
one hundred miles from the Ohio and nearly opposite to the falls, 
he, with nine others, was surprised and fired upon by a party of 
about twenty Indians ; that two men were killed on the spot, viz. : 
James Hamilton, from Fredericksburg, and James Cowan, from 
Pennsylvania, and as the enemy rushed upon them before it was 
possible to put themselves in any posture of defence, they were 
obliged to abandon their camp and make their escape to a party of 
thirty-five men who were in that neighborhood. Next day, the 
whole company, being forty-three in number, after burying the 
dead, set out for the settlement on Clinch river, where they arrived 
on the 29th, after making several discoveries of the enemy on the 
way." 

General Andrew Lewis had orders to raise four companies of 
militia from Fincastle and Botetourt counties, to rendezvous at 
Camp Union, and to march thence down the Kanawha to Fort Pitt, 
at the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio. Three companies of 
men were raised in Fincastle county and were commanded by: 
Captain Evan Shelby, the forces from the waters of the Holston, 
Captain Wm. Eussell, the forces from the waters of the Clinch, 
Captain Wm. Herbert, the forces from the waters of New river. 

Captain Russell left Russell's Fort on Clinch river previously 
to August 13th, 1774, and Captain Evan Shelby began the march 
with his forces on the 17th of August, 1774, both companies Join- 
ing the regiment of Colonel Cliristian on New river; from which 
place Colonel Christian, with his regiment, proceeded to Camp 
Union. On the 11th day of September, 1774, the army of Gen. 
Lewis began the march down the Kanawha, and, after the expira- 
tion of twenty-five days, they arrived at Point Pleasant and camped 
upon the banks of the Ohio. When the army of General Lewis left 
Camp Union, Colonel Wm. Christian, witli four hundred men, was 
directed to remain and guard the provisions until the return of a 
company of horse that had been sent to the mouth of Elk, when he 
was to hurry things forward. But the companies of Captains 
Russell and Shelby accompanied the army of General Lewis upon 
its march from Camp Union to Point Pleasant and were attached 
to the command of Colonel Charles Lewis, of Augusta county. 

At the same time, Lord Dunmore raised a considerable forcQ in 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 151 

the lower Valley and was to march to Fort Pitt, and thence to 
Point Pleasant, where he was to meet General Lewis. Instead of 
doing so, he marched into Ohio. General Lewis, upon his arrival at 
Point Pleasant, waited several days, expecting the arrival of Lord 
Dunmore, and, not hearing from him, he dispatched messengers, 
but whether he received a reply before the battle is a matter of dis- 
pute. On Sunday, the 9th day of October, the sturdy Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians from Fincastle county spent the day in religious 
exercises, little dreaming that on the coming day they would be sur- 
prised by the Indians and win the most hotly contested battle with 
the Indians recorded in the annals of our history. 

BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT. 

Early Monday morning, October 10th, James Mooney and James 
Hughey, of Captain Eussell's company, left the camp in quest of 
deer. When about three miles distant from their camp, they unex- 
pectedly came in sight of a large body of Indians, in their en- 
campment. The Indians, when they discovered the two men, fired 
upon them, and Hughey was killed by a white renegade by the name 
of Travenor Eoss. Mooney made his escape, and, returning to the 
camp, reported that he had seen a body of the enemy covering four 
acres of ground, as closely as they could stand by the side of each 
other. 

About the same time, two members of Captain Shelby's company, 
James Robertson and Valentine Sevier, who had been out hunting, 
returned to camp and reported that they had met a body of hostile 
Indians advancing upon the camp, and that they had fired upon 
them at the distance of ten steps. It being dark, the Indians were 
thereby halted. As no official report of this battle has been pre- 
served, I will here give the report as obtained by Dr. Hale from a 
letter published in the Belfast (Ireland) News Letter, a paper 
published at that time. 

BELFAST. 

Yesterday arrived a mail from New York brought to Falmouth 
by the Harriot packet boat, Captain Lee. 

Williamsburg, Va., November 10th. 

The following letter is just received from the camp on Point 
Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kenhawa (as then spelled), 
dated October 17, 1774: 

"The following is a true statement of a battle fought at this 



152 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

place on the 10th instant: On Monday morning about half an 
hour before sunrise, two of Captain Russell's company discovered a 
large party of Indians about a mile from the camp, one of which 
men was shot by the Indians; the other made his escape and 
brought in the intelligence. In two or three minutes after, two of 
Captain Shelby's men came in and confirmed the account. 

"Colonel Andrew Lewis, being informed thereof, immediately 
ordered out Colonel Charles Lewis, to take command of one hun- 
dred and fifty of the Augusta troops, and with him went Captain 
Dickinson, Captain Harrison, Captain Wilson, Captain John 
Lewis, of Augusta, and Captain Lockridge, which made the first 
division. Colonel Fleming was then ordered to take command of 
one hundred and fifty men of the Botetourt, Bedford, and Fin- 
castle troops, viz., Captain Thomas Buford, from Bedford; Captain 
Love, of Botetourt; Captain Shelby and Captain Eusseli, of Fin- 
castle, which made the second division. 

"Colonel Charles Lewis's division marched to the right some 
distance from the Ohio, and Colonel Fleming with liis division, on 
the bank of the Ohio to the left. 

"Colonel Charles Lewis's division had not marched quite half 
a mile from the camp when, about sunrise, an attack wac made on 
the front of his division, in a most vigorous manner, by the united 
tribes of Indians, Shawnese, Delawares, Mingoes, Tawas, and of 
several other nations — in number not less than eight hundred, and 
by many thought to be one thousand. 

"In this heavy attack. Colonel Charles Lewis received a wound, 
which, in a few hours caused his death, and several of his men fell 
on the spot; in fact, the Augusta division was obliged to give way 
to the heavy fire of the enemy. In about a second of a minute after 
the attack on Colonel Lewis's division, the enemy engaged the front 
of Colonel Fleming's division on the Ohio, and in a short time the 
Colonel received two balls through his left arm and one through, his 
breast, and, after animating the officers and soldiers, in a most (aim 
manner, to the pursuit of victory, retired to the camp. 

"The loss in the field was sensibly felt by the officer- in par- 
ticular; but the Augusta troops being shortly after reinforced from 
the camp by Colonel Field, with his company, together witli Cap- 
tain McDowell, Captain Matthews, and Captain St'^wart, from 
Augusta ; Captain Paulin, Captain Arbuckle and Captaia McClana- 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 153 

li.m, from Botetourt, the enemy no longer able to maintain their 
t:irimd, were forced to give way till they were in a line with the 
tnx.ps. Colonel Fleming being left in the action on the Ohio. 

"In this precipitate retreat Colonel Fleming was killed. During 
tLii? time, which was till after twelve, the action in a siT-all degree 
nlated, but continued, except at short intervals, sharp enough till 
niter one o'clock. Their long retreat gave them a most advanta- 
geous spot of ground, from which it appeared to the officers so diffi- 
cult to dislodge them that it was thought most advisable to stand 
as the line was then formed, which was about a mile and o (juai-ter 
in length, and had sustained till then a constant and equal v/eight of 
the action, from wing to wing, 

"It was till alx)ait half an hour of sunset they continued firing on 
us scattered shots, which we returned to their disadvantage. At 
length the night coming on they foimd a safe retrcar. 

•'They had not the satisfaction of carrying off any of our men's 
scalps, save those of one or two stragglers they killed before the 
engagement. Many of their dead they scalped, rather than we 
should have them, but our troops scalped upwards of twenty of 
their men that were first killed. 

"Tt is beyond doubt their loss, in number, far excecnled ours, 
which is considerable. 

"The return of the killed and wounded in the above battle, same 
as our last, is as follows : 

"Killed — Colonels Charles Lewis and John Fields, Captains 
John Murray, R. McClanahan, Samuel Wilson, James Ward, I^ieu- 
tenant Hugh Allen, Ensigns Cantiff and Bracken, and forty-four 
privates. Total killed, fifty-three. 

"Wounded — Colonel William Fleming, Captains John Dickinson, 
Thomas Buford, and I. Skidman, Lieutenants Goldman, Eobinson, 
Lard and Vance, and seventy-nine privates. Total wounded, eighty- 
seven ; killed and wounded, one hundred and forty." 

When Colonel Charles Lewis fell, Captain Evan Shelby succeed- 
ed to the command of the regiment, and Isaac Shelby, his son, 
succeeded to the command of his father's company, and late in the 
evening General Lewis directed Captains Isaac Shelly, Matthews, 
and Stewart to assail the Indians in the rear, by advancing up the 
Kanawha river, protected by the bank and undergrovvi:h. In the 
execution of this order considerable difficulty was experienced, and 



154 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

possibly, failure would have been the result had it not been for 
the request of John Sawyers an Orderly Sergeant in Captain 
Shelby's company, for permission to take a few men of the com- 
pany and drive the Indians from the position which afforded them 
protection. Permission was granted and the Indians were dislodged. 
The companies above mentioned having gained their rear, the In- 
dians precipitately took their flight across the Ohio. 

It is generally admitted that this was one of the most Jiotly (on- 
tested battles between the white men and the Indians that t<X)k 
place in the history of the early settlement of our country. The 
terrible conflict that took place between the white men and tlie 
Indians in this battle is hard to depict in ordinary language. De 
Hass thus describes the conflict : 

"The battle scene was terribly grand. There stood the com- 
batants, terror, rage, disappointment, and despair riveted upon the 
faces of one, while calm resolution and the unbending will to do or 
die were marked upon the other. Neither party would retreat, 
neither could advance. The noise of the firing was tremendous. No 
single gun could be distinguished, it was one continuous roar. 

"The rifle and the tomahawk now did their work with dreadful 
certainty. The confusion and perturbation of the camp had now 
arrived at its greatest height. The confused sounds and wild up- 
roar of the battle added greatly to the terror of the scene. The 
shouting of the whites, the continued roar of fire-arms, the war- 
whoop and dismal yelling of the Indians, were discordant and ter- 
rific." 

Colonel Christian, whom General Lewis had left at Camp Union, 
as soon as he had complied with the orders of General Lewis, set 
out for Point Pleasant, with all the troops under his command 
except one company of Fincastle men, whom he left under the 
com.mand of Anthony Bledsoe at Camp Union to guard the sup- 
plies and take care of the sick. He marched his troops with all 
possible expedition, and arrived at Point Pleasant on the evening 
of October 10th, after the battle had been fought. Soon thereafter, 
Lord Dunmore negotiated a treaty of peace with the Indians at one 
of their towns in Ohio, by which the northwest Indians ceded all 
their claims to the lands lying south of the Ohio river, to the King 
of England, 

General Lewis marched his army back to Camp Union where it 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 155 

was disbanded. The body O'f militia that went from Fincastle upon 
this expedition were armed with rifle guns, and, being good woods- 
men, were looked upon to be at least equal to any troops for the 
number that had been raised, in America. It is sufficient to know 
that the credit of having been the first to discover the approach 
of the Indians, and thereby, possibly, to secure the preservation of 
General Lewis's army, was due to the vigilance of the backwoods- 
men from Fincastle. And in addition to that, it should be a mat- 
ter of pride to every citizen of this section of Virginia to know that 
the troops froan the waters of the Clinch and the Holston were 
among the nvimber to receive the first assault of the enemy, and to 
their skill and bravery may be accredited, the successful flanking, 
and consequently the precipitate rout, of the Indian army. The 
killed and wounded among the Fincastle troops were considerable. 
The names of a few of the killed and wounded are given below : 

Eobert Campbell, private, afterwards granted a pension of 10 
pounds per year. 

James Hughey, killed. 

James Eobinson, wounded. 

Mark Williams, private, killed. 

John Carmack, private, wounded. 

John Steward, wounded. 

John McKenney, wounded, three times. 

Lieutenant Vance, wounded. 

The following is a partial list of the men who accompanied Cap- 
tain Evan Shelby on this expedition : 

Isaac Shelby, Captain. Robert Handley, 

James Robertson, 0. S. William Casey, 

James Shelby, John Stewart, wounded; 

Henry Span, Richard Burke, 

Frederick Mongle, Elijah Robertson, 

John Carmack, Richard Holliway, 

George Brooks, Julius Robison, 

Abram Newland, Benjamin Graham, 

Emanuel Shoatt, Hugh O'Gullion, 

Peter Forney, James Hughey, 

John Fain, Basileel Maxwell, 

Samuel Fain, Valentine Sevier, 0. S., 

Samuel Samples, John Sawyers, 0. S., 



±00 



isoutiiwesi Virginia, i/Jto-ivou. 



John Findley, 
Daniel Mongle, 
John Williams, 
Andrew Torrence, 
Isaac Newland, 
George Eiddle, 
Abram Boga^d, 
William Tucker, 
Samuel Vance, 
Samuel Handley, 
Arthur Blackburn, 



George Armstrong, 
Mack Williams, 
Conrad Nave, 
John Riley, 
Eees Price, 
Jarrett Williams, 
Charles Fielder, 
Andrew GoflF, 
Patrick St. Lawrence, 
John Bradley, 
Barnett O'Guillion. 



Captain Wm. Eussell's company: 
James Mooney, Joseph Hughey. 

FINCASTLE TROOPS. 

COMPANIES NOT KNOWN. 



Walter Steward, Adjt. 

Fincastle troops. 
William Campbell, Captain. 
William McFarJand, 
John McKenney, 
John Moore, 
Conrad Smith, 
John Floyd, 
Jolin Steward, 
John Campbell, Lieutenant; 
Moses Bowen, died with 
small-pox on expedition ; 



Daniel Smith, 
Robert Campbell, 
Andrew Waggoner, 
John Gilmore, 
John Lyle, 
Francis Berry, 
James Robinson, 

Hickman, 

William Tate, 
George Findley, 
Rees Bowen. 



Daniel Boone, upon his return from Kentucky to Russell's Fort, 
on the 13th day of August, found Captain William Russell absent 
on the Point Pleasant expedition, and he immediately set out with 
a body of troops to reinforce him, but was ordered back to protect 
the settlers on the Clinch, where he remained for some time. 

The forts on Clinch river, at this time, with the number of men 
in each and the officers in command, were as follows : 

Fort Blackmore, sixteen men, Sergeant Moore commanding. 
Fort Moore, (twenty miles east), twenty men, Lieiitenant Daniel 
Boone commanding. Fort Russell (four miles east), twenty men, 



Southwest Virginia, nJfG-llSG. 157 

Sergeant W. Poage commanding. Fort Glade Hollow, (twelve miles 
east), fifteen men, Sergeant John Duncan commanding. Elk Gar- 
den* (fourteen miles east), fifteen men. Sergeant John Kinkead 
commanding. Maiden Spring, (twenty-three miles east), five men, 
Sergeant John Crow commanding. Whitlow's Crab Orchard, three 
men. Ensign John Campbell commanding. 

Boone was very diligent in protecting the settlements and was 
commissioned Captain for his valued services. 

As soon as the Indians ascertained that so many of the citizens 
from the waters of the Clinch were absent on the expedition to 
Point Pleasant, they began a series of very alarming raids. On the 
8th of September, 1774, they visited the home of John Henry, on 
the Clinch river, now in Tazewell coimty, Virginia, in Thompson's 
Yalley, he, having on the 15th day of May of the same year, settled 
upon a tract of land that Daniel Smith, Deputy Surveyor of Fin- 
castle county, had surveyed for him. Henry received a dangerous 
wound from which he died, his wife and three children were taken 
prisoners, and on the same day a man was taken prisoner by an- 
other party of Indians on the Holston river. On the 13th day of 
September, 1774, a soldier was fired upon by three Indians on the 
Clinch river, but was not hurt. He returned the fire and, it is be- 
lieved, killed an Indian. This company of Indians were pursued 
for several days, by Captain Daniel Smith and a company of militia, 
but they could not be overtaken. On the 23d, two negroes were 
taken prisoners at Blackmore's Fort, on waters of Clinch river, and 
a great many horses and cattle were shot down. On the 24th day 
of the same month, an entire family were taken and killed, at Eeedy 
Creek, a branch of the Holston river, near the Cherokee line. On 
Sunday morning, the 25th, hallooing and the report of many guns 
were heard. These last murders were believed to be the work of the 
Cherokees, who appeared at that time in very bad humor. 

The victory gained at Point Pleasant on the 10th of October put 
a stop to all organized raids upon the frontier settlements, for the 
time being. Upon the return of the Fincastle troops from the expe- 
dition to Point Pleasant, the free-holders of Fincastle county as- 
sembled at the Lead Mines and drafted an address to the Hon. 
John, Earl of Dunmore, thanking him heartily for his exertions in 



*About six miles east of Lebanon on North Fork of Cedar Creek, on land of 
the Stuart Land & Cattle Company. 



158 Southwest Yirgima, 1746-1786. 

their behalf in the late war, and expressed the wish that the late 
disturbances might be amicably settled. 

On the 14th day of April, 1774, Dr. Thomas Walker conveyed to 
James Piper 365 acres of land on a branch of the Holston river 
called Wolf Hill Creek ; on the same day, he conveyed to Alexander 
Breckenridge 360 acres on Wolf Hill Creek, to Samuel Briggs 313 
acres on Wolf Hill Creek, alias Uastle's Creek, to Joseph Black, 305 
acres on Eighteen Mile Creek (this being the name of the small 
creek that flows through Abingdon) and to Andrew Colvill, 324 
acres on Wolf Hill Creek. The persons above named were the first 
settlers in the vicinity of Abingdon. 

In the spring of the year 1774, the free-holders of Fincastle 
county met at the Lead Mines, their courthouse, and elected two 
members of the Virginia House of Burgesses to represent Fincastle 
county, viz. : 

William Christian, Stephen Trigg. 

It may not be amiss at this point to state briefly the laws gov- 
erning the qualifications required of the citizens of Fincastle coun- 
ty to vote and hold office. In this, the last year that the Colony 
of Virginia adhered to the crown of England. The freeholders of 
every county possessed the liberty of electing two of the most able 
and fit men, being freeholders and qualified to vote, to represent 
their county in all the General Assemblies. The electors or voters 
were required to own an estate of freehold for his own life or the 
life of another, or otHer greater estate in at least fifty acres of land, 
if no settlement be made upon it, or twenty-five acres with a planta- 
tion and house thereon at least twelve feet square, said property be- 
ing in the county in which the electors offered to vote. The sheriff 
was required to deliver to the minister and reader of every parish in 
his county a copy of the writ of election, and, upon the back of 
every such writ, he was required to endorse the fact that said elec- 
tion would be held at the courthouse in his county upon a day 
appointed by him. And the minister or reader was required to 
publish the same immediately after divine services, every Sunday 
between the receipt of said writ and the day of election, under 
heavy penalty for failure to do so. It was further provided 
that every freeholder actually residing in the county should per- 
sonally appear at the courthouse on the day fixed and give his vote, 
upon the penalty of forfeiting two hundred pounds of tobacco, if he 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 159 

failed to vote. The sheriff was required to appoint fit persons, and 
these persons after being duly sworn, were required to enter the 
names of every candidate in a distinct column, and the name of 
every freeholder giving his vote, under the name of the person 
voted for, all of which was required to be done in the presence of 
the candidates or their agents, and upon the close of the polls the 
sheriff was ordered to proclaim the names of the successful candi- 
dates. And it was further provided, that any person who should 
directly or indirectly, except in his usual and ordinary course of 
hospitality, in his own house, give, present, or allow to any person 
or persons, having voice or vote in such elections, any money, meat, 
drink, entertainment or provisions, or make any present, gift, re- 
ward, or entertainment, or any promise, agreement, obligation, or 
engagement, to any person, etc., shall be declared guilty of bribery 
and corruption,* and rendered incapable to sit, or vote, or to hold 
office." 

Thus it will be seen that the laws were very strict in regard to the 
manner of holding elections, and it cannot be doubted, that an elec- 
tion held under such laws would be honest and would express the 
will of the people. Our present law-makers might well learn a 
lesson from the example set them by the law-makers of the Colony 
of Virginia, under the rule of King George III. 

Early in the history of Fincastle county, the House of Burgesses 
enacted a law which provided, "that from and after the first day 
of December next, the inhabitants of the said county of Fincastle 
shall discharge all fees diie from them to the secretary and other 
officers in said county at the rate of 8s and 4 pence, for every hun- 
dredweight of gross tobacco. 

The principle asserted by the regulators at the Alamance had 
spread among the American colonies, until, at the time mentioned, 
it seemed to permeate the whole American body politic, and, on the 
other hand, the British Parliament had repealed all the port duties 
imposed at their session in 1767, except the duty of three pence a 
pound on tea, which was continued for the purpose of maintaining 
the principle contended for by the British Parliament, to- wit : that 
they had the right to tax the American Colonists without giving 
them representation, and not for the purpose of revenue only. 



*8 Hen. S., page 526. 



160 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

The American Colonists were opposed to the principle of taxation 
without representation, and they opposed a small tax as bitterly 
as they opposed the port duties of 1767. The collection of the tax 
was resisted at every point, and, at Boston, the cargoes of tea were 
thrown into the sea. Whereupon the British Parliament passed 
a bill closing Boston Harbor, upon which infonnation great indig- 
nation pervaded the entire colonies. The House of Burgesses of 
Virginia observed the first day of the operation of the bill closing 
Boston Harbor, as a fast day, and declared : "That any attack made 
on one of our sister colonies to compel submission to arbitrary taxes 
is an attack made on all British America, and threatened ruin to the 
rights of all, unless the united w^isdom of the whole be applied.'' 
And they proposed a general Congress to take such action as the 
united interests of the American Colonies might require. This 
suggestion, made by the House of Burgesses, was accepted by all 
the colonies and the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia 
on the 5th da,y of September, 1774, just one month and five 
days preceding the battle of Point Pleasant. 

The officers and men under command of Lord Dunmore, hearino 
of the action of the first Continental Congress, met and adoptee 
a resolution, which was as follows : 

"Resolved, That as the love of liberty and attachment to the 
real interests and just rights of America outweigh every othei 
consideration, they would exert every power within them foi 
the defence of American Liberty and for the support of her jusi 
rights and privileges; not in any precipitate, riotous, or tumultu- 
ous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous 
voice of our countrymen." 

THE EEVOLUTIO?^. 

The period with which we now purpose to deal will be evei 
remembered, by reason of the production of one of those master- 
pieces of political evolution which mould the w^orld anel fix the 
destiny of mankind, an event unsurpassed in the history of th( 
world; the founding of the American Republic. In dealing witl 
this subject, we deem it necessary to an intelligent understandim 
of the motives and actions of the men of that day, to give, with some 
particularity, the story complete, from its inception to its culmina- 



Southwest Virginia, 174-6-1786. 161 

ion, recognizing that a storj- partly told is misleading, and the 
rue merits of a controversy are oftentimes obscured by a mutilated 
tatement, or a half-told tale. For ten years preceding the resort 
►f the American Colonies to extreme measures, a bitterly contested 
:ontroversy constantly engaged the attention of the British Gov- 
immeut and the American Colonies, and it has been well said by 
me of the fathers of our country, that the "Revolution was fin- 
shed before the war was commenced." Indeed, it seems to the stu- 
lent of our early history at this distance from the time of the 
)ccurrences of which we are now writing, that our early fathers in 
eaving their homes, the highlands of Scotland', the bogs of Ireland, 
he fertile lands of old England, were imbued with exceedingly un- 
'avorable feelings toward the land of their nativity. They were 
levoid of that affection which usually accompanies the wanderer 
Tom his native home, and it is certain that they lost no opportunity 
;o instil their prejudices and dislikes into the minds of their chil- 
iren and neighbors, and to resist the operation and execution of 
;he laws enacted by tlie British Parliament and the rules attempted 
;o be enforced by the Governors of the Colonies. This spirit was 
evidenced in old Virginia as early as 16G6, at the time of Bacon's 
Rebellion. This spirit, so prevalent among the English colonies in 
America, can be attributed to the fact that a large majority of the 
3arly emigrants were driven from their homes by the tyranny of 
the English Government, and, after establishing themselves in 
this country, their hatred was accentuated by the arbitrary conduct 
af the English ministry, in pursuing a contracted policy, the natural 
result of which was to abridge the liberties and property rights of 
the colonies. A large majority of the early emigrants to the Amer- 
ican colonies were inspired by that spirit of liberty that has been 
BO much cherished in the history of our country. They were be- 
lievers in the principles which prevailed at the time of the execu- 
tion of Charles the First. Many of them were the followers of 
Oliver Cromwell, and detested the arbitrary conduct of the King 
and the rulers of England, and it was from this cause that they left 
their native country to seek a home in the wilderness, with the deter- 
mination never to submit to the oppressions of their native land. 

Many of the early emigrants found their homes among the high 
mountains and the pathless deserts of the new continent, the 
nursery of the spirit of freedom. Among the early emigrants to 



1G2 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

this new country were numerous "Dissenters," a class of people 
who worshipped God according to their own reason and conscience, 
men who acknowledged no authority but that which had been estab- 
lished by their own sanction and consent, and this applied to their 
religious principles as well as to their ideas of government. They 
did not admit the right of the British government to compel them 
either to attend or to support the established church. 

They were principally from the middle classes, and neither ad- 
mitted nor countenanced any claims to honor or distinction, save 
such as arose from the exercise of industry, talent, or virtue. In 
tlieir native country they had been tenants, and did not regard 
themselves superior to the lowest of their fellow citizens; in tlieir 
new homes they were freeholders, and believed themselves equal to 
the best, and> naturally, they soon detested that idea which prevailed 
in the English government, in accordance with which individuals 
pretended to be their natural rulers and superiors. 

During the French-Indian war, the British Ministry proposed a 
union of the Colonies for the purpose of repelling the French en- 
croachments on the western waters; and, pursuant to this proposi- 
tion, the Governor and leading members of the provincial assem- 
blies convened at Albany, N. Y., in the year 1754. This Assembly 
was unanimously of the opinion, that the Colonies were able to 
defend themselves from the encroachments of the French without 
assistance from the English Government. They proposed "that a 
Grand Council should be formed of members to be chosen by the 
provincial Assemblies, which Council, together with a governor to 
be appointed by the Crown, should be authorized to make general 
laws, and, also, to raise money from all the Colonies for their com- 
mon defence." This proposition was received by the British Min- 
istry with displeasure, and, in answer thereto, the ministry submit- 
ted a counter-proposition, which was as follows: "That the Gov- 
ernors of all the Colonies, attended by one or two members of their 
respective Councils, should, from time to time, concert measures for 
the whole of the Colonies, erect posts and raise troops, with a power 
to draw upon the British treasury, in the first instance, for the 
expense, which expense was to be reimbursed by a tax to be laid on 
the Colonies by an act of Parliament." 

It will be well to observe that thus early began the contentions 
between the British Parliament and the English Colonies ; the Brit- 



Southwest Virginia, 174G-178G. 163 

isli Ministry seeking to lodge the taxing power in the hands of the 
British I'arliament, a body in which the American Colonies were 
not permitted to have representation, whereas, the Colonies insisted 
that the taxing power should be vested in their local institutions. 

This proposition upon the part of the British Ministry gave great 
dissatisfaction to the people of the Colonies, as they objected to 
being taxed by a body in which they had no representation, but no 
further action was taken in regard to the matter, until the conclu- 
sion of the war, in 1763. 

Previously to the year 1761, when the British Parliament desired 
a contribution from the American Colonies, the object was accom- 
plished by a simple requisition upon the legislatures ol the several 
Colonies for the sum noeded and, in every instance, the requisition 
had been honored and the money furnished with a willing hand. 
But, in this year, the British Parliament sought to obtain from 
the American Colonies by a speedier method the taxes desired. 

A measure was proposed in tlie British Parliament by the Pre- 
mier, George Grenville, in the year 1761, having for its object, "the 
raising of a revenue in America," the entire proceeds of which were 
to go into the exchequer of Great Britain. 

We have before mentioned the dissatisfaction prodxiced by the 
proposition to have the British Parliament levy a tax upon the 
American Colonies, when the entire proceeds of the tax were to be 
used for the development and the protection of the Colonies, and 
tlie reader can well imagine the alarm and indignation that pre- 
vailed in the American Colonies at the suggestion of the British 
Premier, that the British Parliament should lay a tax upon the 
American Colonies, the entire proceeds of which were to go into the 
exchequer of Great Britain. 

Pursuant to the foregoing preposition, Mr. Grenville, on the 
10th of March, 1764, reported a resolution imposing certain 
"stamp duties" on the colonies, with the request that it should not 
be acted upon till the next session of the Parliament. This gave 
the agents of the colonies in England an opportunity to transmit 
copies of this resolution to the assemblies of the several colonies. 

At the time of the receipt of this information the Virginia 
House of Burgesses was in session, and immediately appointed a 
committee to prepare an address to the King of Great Britain and 
to the two houses of the British Parliament. We liere give the 



164 . Southwest Virginia, 17 J, 0-17 86. 

several addresses in full as })r('j)ared by this committee and re- 
ported to the House of Burgesses "To the King's most excellent 
Majesty." 

"Most gracious Sovereign, 

"We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Council and 
Burgesses of your ancient Colony and dominion of Virginia, 
now met in General Assembly, beg leave to assure your Majesty of 
our firm and inviolable attachment to your sacred person and gov- 
ernment; and, as your faithful subjects here, have at all times 
been zealous to demonstrate this truth by a ready co^mpliance 
with the royal requisitions during the late war, by which a heavy 
oppressive debt of near half a million hath been incurred, so at 
this time tliey implore permission to approach the throne with 
humble confidence, and to entreat that your Majesty will be gra- 
ciously pleased to protect your people of this Colony in the en- 
joyment of their ancient and inestimable right of being gov- 
erned by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, 
as are derived from their own consent, with the approbation of 
their Sovereign or his substitute; a right which, as men, and 
descendants of BEITONS, they have ever quietly possessed, since 
first, by royal permission and encouragement, they left the mother 
kingdom to extend its commerce and dominion. 

"Your Majesty's dutiful subjects of Virginia most humbly and 
unanimously hope that this invaluable birthright, descended to 
them from their ancestors, and in which they have been protected 
by your royal predecessors, will not be suffered to receive an injury, 
under the reign of your sacred Majesty, already so illustriously 
distinguished by your gTacious attention to the liberties of the 
people. 

"That your Majesty may long live to make nations happy, is 
the ardent prayer of your faithful subjects, the Council and Bur- 
gesses of Virginia." 

The memorial to the House of Lords was as follows : 

"To the right honorable the Lord's Spiritual and Temporal, in 
Parliament assembled; the Memorial of the Council and Bur- 
gresses of Virginia, now met in General Assembly humbly rep- 
resents, 

"That your memorialists hope an application to your lordships, 
the fixed and hereditary guardians of British liberty, will not be 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 165 

thought improper at this time, when measures are proposed sub- 
versive, as they conceive, of that freedom which all men, especially 
those who derive their constitution from Britain, have a right to 
enjoy; and they flatter themselves that your lordships will not 
look upon them as objects so unworthy your attention as to regard 
any impropriety in the form or manner of their application for 
your lordship's protection of their just and undoubted right as 
Britons. 

"It cannot be presumption in your memorialists to call them- 
selves by this distinguished name, since they are descended from 
Britons who left their native country to extend its territory and 
dominion and who, happily for Briton, and as your memorialists 
once thought, for themselves too, elfected this purpose. As our 
ancestors brought with them every right and privilege they could 
with justice claim in their mother kingdom, their descendants may 
conclude they cannot be deprived of those rights without injustice. 

"Your memorialists conceive it to be a fundamental principle 
of the British constitution, without which freedom can no where 
exist, that the people are not subject to any taxes but such as are 
laid on them by their O'Wn consent, or by those who are legally 
appointed to represent them; property must become too precarious 
for the genius of a free people, which can be taken from them at 
the will of others who cannot know what taxes such people can 
bear, or the easiest mode of raising them ; and who are not under 
that restraint which is the greatest security against a burthensome 
taxation, when the representatives themselves must be affected by 
every tax imposed on the people. 

"Your memorialists are therefore led into an humble confidence 
that your lordships will not think any reason sufficient to support 
such a power in the British Parliament, where the Colonies can- 
not be represented : a power never before constitutionally assumed, 
and which, if they have a right to exercise it on 'any occasion, must 
necessarily establish this melancholy truth, that the inhabitants of 
the Colonies are the slaves of Britons, from whom they are 
descended, and from whom they might expect every indulgence that 
the obligations of interest and affection can entitle them to. 

"Your memorialists have been invested with the right of taxing 
their own people from the first estahlishment of a regidar govern- 
ment in the Colony, and requisitions have been constantly made 



166 Southtvest Virginia, nJf6-1786. 

to them by their sovereigns on all occasions when the assist- 
ance of the Colony was thought necessary to preserve the British 
interest in America; from whence they must conclude, they can- 
not now be deprived of a right they have so long enjoyed and 
which they have never forfeited. 

"The expenses incurred during the last war, in compliance with 
the demands on this Colony by our late and present most gracious 
Sovereigns, have involved us in a debt of near half a million, a 
debt not likely to decrease under the continued expense we are at in 
providing for the security of the people against the incursions of 
our savage neighbors, at a time when the low state of our staple 
commodity, the total want of specie and the late restrictions upon 
the trade of the Colonies, render the circumstances of the people 
extremely distressful; and which, if taxes are accumulated upon 
them by the British Parliament, will make them truly deplorable. 

"Your meraoTialists cannot suggest to themselves any reason 
why they should not still be trusted with the property of their peo- 
ple, with whose abilities and the least burthensome mode of taxing 
(with great deference to the superior wisdom of Parliament) they 
must be best acquainted. 

Your memorialists hope they shall not be suspected of being 
actuated on this occasion by any principles but those of the purest 
loyalty and affection, as they have always endeavored by their con- 
diict to demonstrate that they considered their connexion with 
Great Britain, the seat of liberty, as their greatest happiness. 

"The duty they owe to themselves, and their posterity lays your 
memorialists under the necessity of endeavoring to estal)lish their 
Constitution upon its proper foundation ; and they do uiost hum- 
bly pray your lordships to take this subject into your consideration, 
with the attention that is due toi the well being of the (Vdonies, on 
which the prosperity of Great Britain does, in a great measure, 
depend." 

And the remonstrance to the House of Commons was this : 
"To the honorable Knights, Citizens and Burgesses of Great Brit- 
ain in Parliament assembled : 

"The remonstrance of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia. 

"It appearing by the printed votes of the House of Commons 
of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, that in a committee 
of the whole House, the 17th day of March last, it was resolved, that 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 167 

towards defending, protecting and securing the British Colonies 
and Plantations in America, it may he proper to charge certain 
stamp duties in the said Colonies and Plantations; and it being 
a])prehended that the same subject, which was then declined, may 
be resumed and further pursued in a succeeding session, the Co'un- 
cil and Burgesses of Virginia, met in the General Assembly, judge 
it their indispensable duty, in a respectful manner, but with decent 
firmness, to remonstrate against such a measure, that at least a 
cession of those rights, which in their opinion must be infringed 
1)y that procedure, may not be inferred from their silence at so 
important a crisis. 

"They conceive it is essential to British liberty, that laws, impos- 
ing taxes on the people, ought not to^ be made without the consent of 
representatives chosen by themselves; who at the same timie that 
they are acquainted with the circumstances of their constituents, 
sustain a portion of the burthen laid on them. The privileges 
inherent in the persons who discovered and settled these regions, 
could not be renounced nor forfeited by their remo'val hither, not 
as vagabonds or fugitives, but licensed and encouraged by their 
Prince and animated with a laudable desire of enlarging the 
British dominion and extending its commerce; on the contrary, it 
was secured to them and their descendants, with all other rights 
and immunities of British subjects, by a Eoyal Charter which 
hath been invariably recognized and confirmed by his Majesty and 
his predecessoi's, in their commissions to the several Governors, 
granting a power and prescribing a form of legislation, according to 
which, laws for the administration of justice and the welfare and 
good government of the Colony have been hitherto enacted by the 
Governor, Council and General Assembly, and to them, requisitions 
and applications for supplies have been directed by the Crown. 
As an instance of the opinion which former Sovereigns entertained 
of these rights and privileges, we beg leave to refer to the three 
Acts of the General Assembly passed in the thirty-second year of 
the reign of King Charles IT, one of which is entitled 'An Act for 
raising a public revenue for the better support of the government 
of his Majesty's Colony of Virginia,' imposing several duties for 
that purpose, which, being thought absolutely necessary, were pre- 
pared in England and sent over by their then governor, the Lord 
Culpeper, to be passed by the General Assembly, with a full power 



168 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-l7S6. 

to give the royal assent thereto, and which were accordingly passed, 
after several amendments were made to them here; thus tender 
was his Majesty of the rights of his American subjects ; and the 
remonstrants do not discern by what distinction they can be 
deprived of that sacred birthright and most valuable inheritance 
by their fellow sulijects, nor with what propriety they can be taxed 
or affected in their estates, by the Parliament, wherein they are not, 
and indeed cannot, constitutionally be represented. 

"And if it were proposed for the Parliament to impose taxes on 
the Colonies at all, which the remonstrants take leave to think 
would be inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the Con- 
stitution, the exercise of that power, at this time, would be ruinous 
to Virginia, who exerted herself in the late war, it is feared, 
beyond her strength, insomuch that to redeem the money granted 
for that exigency, her people are taxed for several years to come: 
this, with the larger expenses incurred for defending the frontiers 
against the restless Indians who have infested her as much since 
the peace as before, is so grievous, that an increase of the burthen 
would be intolerable; especially as the people are very greatly dis- 
tressed already from the scarcity of circulating cash among them 
and from the little value of their staple at the British markets. 

"And it is presumed that adding to that load which the Colony 
now labors under will not be more oppressive to her people than 
destructive of the interest of Great Britain; for the Plantation 
trade, confined as it is to the mother country, hath been a principal 
means of multiplying and enriching her inhabitants; and, if not too 
much discouraged, may prove an inexhaustible source of treasure 
to the nation. For satisfaction on this jwint, let the present state 
of the British fleets and trade be compared with what they were 
before the settlement of the Colonies ; and let it be considered, that, 
whilst property in land may be acquired on very easy terms in the 
vast uncultivated territory of North America, the Colonists will 
be mostly, if not wholly, employed in agriculture, whereby rhe 
exportation of their commodities to Great Britain and the con- 
sumption of manufacturers supplied from thence will be daily 
increasing. But this most desirable connexion between Great 
Britain and her Colonies, supported by such a happy intercourse 
of reciprocal benefits as is continually advancing the prosperity 
of both, must be interrupted, if the people of the latter, reduced 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-178G. 169 

to extreme povert}^, should be compelled to manufacture those arti- 
cles they have been hitherto furnished with from the former. 

"From these considerations, it is hoped that the Honorable House 
of Commons will not prosecute a measure which those who may 
suffer under it cannot but look upon as fitter for exiles driven from 
their native country, after ignominiously forfeiting her favors and 
protection, than for the posterity of Britons, who have at all times 
been forward to demonstrate all due reverence to the mother 
Kingdom and are so instrumental in promoting her glory and 
felicity ; and that British patriots will never consent to the exercise 
of any anti-constitutional power, which, even in this remote cor- 
ner, may be dangerous in its example to the interior parts of the 
British empire, and will certainly be detrimental to its commerce." 

The several papers above given breathe a spirit of humility and 
dependence that did not correctly voice the sentiments of the Vir- 
ginia Colonists, and possibly thereby the British Parliament was 
deceived and led to believe that the American Colonies would not 
assert their opposition to the tax measures proposed, otherwise 
than by protest through their Assemblies. 

Most of the Colonies adopted resolutions protesting against the 
enactment of such a law ; some offering a specific sum of money in 
lieu of the proposed tax, provided it was received as a voluntary 
donation. But no one of the Colonies was willing to admit that 
the British Parliament had any right to tax them, while they were 
denied representation therein. 

Mr. Grenville and his friends argued that the Colonies were 
already represented in the same manner as a large proportion of the 
inhabitants of England who had no vote in the election of mem- 
bers of Parliament, and this same argument is often indulged in 
by the advocates of a restricted suffrage at the present time. In 
answer to this ridiculous argument, the Colonies contended that 
"the very essence of representation consists in this; that the 
representative is himself placed in a situation analogous to those 
whom he represents, so that he shall be himself bound by laws which 
he is entrusted to enact and shall be liable to the taxes which he 
is authorized to impose." 

But the soimd reasoning and the humble petitioning of the 
American Colonies did not influence the British Parliament, the 
memorials and petitions were not permitted to be read in the House 



170 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

of Commons, and in the month of Marcli, 17G5, the bill for laying 
a stamp duty in America was called up in the House of Commons, 
but little opposition was shown to the measure, and few indeed were 
the members who denied the right of Parliament to tax the Colo- 
nies. 

It may be worthy to note the circumstances attending the 
debate upon this measure in the House of Commons. Mr. Charles 
Townsend, an advocate of this measure, concluded, his speech in 
advocacy of the measure in the following words; "And now, will 
these Americans, children planted hy our care, nourished hy our 
indulgence, till they are grown to a degree of strength and opulence 
and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their 
mite to relieve us from the heavy weight of that burden which we 
lie under?" Colonel Barre, one of the most respectable mem- 
bers of the House of Commons, with strong feelings of indignation 
visible in his countenance and manner, thus eloquently replied ; 
"They planted by yovr care! No, your oppression planted them 
in America. They fled from tyranny to a then uncultivated and 
inhospitable country, where they exposed themselves to almost all 
the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others 
to the cruelty of a savage foe, the most subtle, and I will take upon 
me to say, the most formidable of any people upon the face of 
the earth ; and yet, actuated by principles of true English liberty, 
they met all hardships with pleasure compared with those they 
sufi'ered in their own country from the hands of those that should 
have been their friends. They flourished by your indidgence! 
They grew up by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to 
care about them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule 
them in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies 
of deputies to some members of thig House, sent to spy out their 
liberties, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon them. 
Men whose behaviour, on many occasions, has caused the blood of 
these sons of liberty to recoil within them, men, who were pro- 
moted to the highest seats of justice, some who, to my knowledge, 
were glad, by going to a foreign country to escape being brought to 
the bar of a court of justice in their own. They protected by your 
arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence, have 
exerted a valour, amidst their constant and laborious industry, for 
the defence of a countrv whose frontier was drenched in blood. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 171 

while its interior parts j'ielded all its little savings to yom' 
emolument. And, believe me, remember I this day told you so, 
that same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first 
will accompany them still; but prudence forbids me to explain 
myself further. God knows I dO' not at this time speak from any 
motives of party heat. What I deliver are the genuine sentiments 
of my heart. However superior to me in general knowledge and 
experience the respectable body of this House may be, yet, I claim 
to know more of America than most of you, having seen and been 
conversant in that country. The people, I believe, are as truly 
loyal as any subjects the King has, but a people jealous of their 
liberties, and who will vindicate them if ever they should be vio- 
lated. But the subject is too delicate. I will say no more." 

Notwithstanding the opposition made to the passage of this bill, 
it passed the House of Commons, and on the 22d day of March, 
1765, having met witli the unanimous approval of the House of 
Lords, it received the royal assent. By the provisions of this bill, 
this law was not to go into effect until the first day of ISTovember, 
1765. 

When the intelligence of the passage of this measure reached 
Virginia, the indignation and rage of the people knew no bounds. 
While no violence was offered, the Virginia House of Burgesses, by 
a series of resolutions proposed by Patrick Henry, expressed the 
sentiments of the people in a dignified and explicit manner, the 
resolutions being as follows; 

"Eesolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this, liis 
Majesty's Colony and dominion, brought with them and trans- 
mitted to their posterity and all others his Majesty's subjects 
since inhabiting in this, his Majesty's said Colony, all the privileges, 
franchises and immunities that have been at any time held, enjoyed 
and possessed by the people of Great Britain. 

"Eesolved, That by two Eoyal Charters granted by King James 
the First, the Colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all the 
privileges, liberties and immunities of denizens and natural born 
subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been abiding 
and born within the realm of England. 

"Eesolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, or 
by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only 
know what taxes the people are able to bear and the easist mode 



172 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

of raising them and are equally afTeeted by such taxes themselves, 
is the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and with- 
out which the ancient constitution cannot subsist. 

"Eesolved, ' That his Majesty's liege people of this most ancient 
Colony have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being thus gov- 
erned by their own assembly in the article of their taxes and inter- 
nal police, and the same hath never been forfeited, or in any other 
way given up, but hath been constantly recognized by the King and 
people of Great Britain. 

"Eesolved, therefore, That the General Assembly of this Colony 
have the sole right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon 
the inhabitants of this Colony; and that every attempt to vest 
such power in any person or persons whatsoever, other than the 
General Assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy 
British as well as American freedom." 

The foregoing resolutions passed the House of Burgesses in May, 
1765, and formed the first opposition to the Stamp Act and the 
scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. Heretofore, 
it had been humble petitions, now, we have reached the point 
where the Colonies were defiantly asserting their rights. Patrick 
Henry, at this time, was quite a young man, this being the first 
time that he had served his country in the House of Burgesses, and, 
while he was inexperienced, he was inspired by that spirit of liberty 
which was the common heritage of the early settlers of the Amer- 
ican wilderness. When these resolutions were offered in the House 
of Burgesses, many violent debates took place, and, after a great 
deal of oppo^sition, the resolutions were adopted by a majority of, 
possibly, one or two votes. During the progress of the debate upon 
these resolutions, Patrick Henry gave utterance to the following 
words ; 

"Caesar," exclaimed the orator, "had his Brutus ; Charles the 
First, his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by his ex- 
ample." 

The passage of these resolutions gave impetus to the cause of 
American liberty and produced an alarming state of affairs among 
the more timid and loyal inhabitants. In Massachusetts the opposi- 
tion took a different form, and, in the city of Boston, the populace 
indulged in every act of violence that could be imagined, in the 
exhibition of their dislike of the law and the law officers. The 



Southvwsl Virginia, 1740-1786. 173 

ships in the liarhor placed their flags at half mast, the hells 
throughout the town were tolling, the ship masters who bought the 
stamps were mistreated and insulted and required to deliver the 
stamps to the people, who made a bonfire of them and of the law. 
Meetings were held throughout the colonies, protesting against 
tliis act of the British Parliament and asserting the inalienable 
right of the American people. 

On the second Tuesday in October, 1765, pursuant to a resolu- 
tion adopted by tlie Assembly of Massachusetts, the first Conti- 
nental Congress assembled at New York, "to consult as to the 
circumstiinees of the Colonies and to consider the most proper 
means of averting the difficulties under which they labored." 
Twenty-eight deputies, representing the States of Massachusetts, 
EhO'de Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland and South Carolina, composed this, the first Continental 
Congress lield on American soil ; Virginia, New York, North Caro- 
lina and Georgia were prevented from sending delegates to this 
Congress by the action of their royal Governors, by dissolving their 
respective assemblies before action could be taken in the premises. 

This Congress adopted a series of resolutions stating the griev- 
ances of the Colonies and, in positive terms, asserting the exemp- 
tion of the Colonies from all taxes not imposed by their own Legis- 
latures. They also addressed a petition to the House of Lords and 
to the King and Commons, and on the 25th of October adjourned. 

The first day of November, 1765, the date fixed for the Stamp 
A.ct to take effect, arrived, and the day in the city of Boston was 
ushered in by the closing of business houses and the tolling of church 
bells, and Governor Bernard and Justice Hutchinson, the advocates 
of the British Parliament in Massachusetts, were hung in effigy 
on Boston Neck, where the effigies were permitted to remain awhile, 
when they were cut down and torn to pieces, to the great delight 
of the people. In many places public notice was given to the 
friends of Liberty to attend her funeral, and a large coffin was 
prepared, upon which was written the word LIBERTY. This 
coffin was attended to the grave by an immense concourse of people, 
where, after the firing of minute-guns, an ora,tion was pro- 
nounced, and the word REVIVED added to the former inscription, 
amidst the shouts and acclamations of the people. Throughout the 
Colonies the stamp papers were forcibly taken from the stamp 



174 Southwest Virginia, 174G-1786. 

officials and destroyed, and the business of the country proceeded 
as if the Stamp law had never been enacted. 

Upon the assembling of Parliament on the 14th day of January, 
1766, upon a motion for an address to the King, William Pitt, one 
of the greatest of English statesmen, offered the following remarks 
upon the state of the country; 

"It is a long time, Mr. Speaker," said he, "since I have attended 
in Parliament. When the resolutions were taken in this House to 
tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have 
been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for 
the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have 
laid me down on this floor to have borne my testimony against it. 
It is my opinion that this Kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon 
the Colonies. At the same time, I assert the authority of this 
Kingdom to be sovereign and supreme in every circumstance of 
government and legislature whatever. Taxation is no part of the 
governing or legislative power; the taxes are a voluntary gift and 
grant of the Commons alone. The concurrence of the Peers and of 
the Crown is necessary only as a form of law. This House repre- 
sents the Commons of Great Britain. When in this House we 
give and grant, therefore, we give and grant what is our own, htit 
can we give and grant the property of the Commons of America? 
It is an absurdity in terms. There is an idea in some, that the 
Colonies are virtually represented in this House. I would fain 
know by whom?. The idea of virtual representation is the most 
contemptible that ever entered into the head of man; it does not 
deserve a serious refutation. The Commons in America, repre- 
sented in their several assembles, have invariably exercised this 
constitutional right of giving and granting their own money; they 
would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed it. At the same 
time this Kingdom has ever professed the power of legislative and 
commercial control. The Colonies acknowledge your authority in 
all things, with the sole exception that you shall not take their 
money out of their pockets without their consent. Here would I 
draw the line; quam ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum." 

This address was replied to by Mr. Grenville in a speech that 
voiced the sentiments of that part ol the people of England that 
wished to tax the Colonies, and, in reply, William Pitt submitted 
the following remarks: 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1186. 175 

"Sir, a charge is brought aginst gentlemen sitting in this House, 
for giving birth to sedition in America. The freedom with which 
tliey have spoken their sentiments against this unhappy act is 
imputed to them as a crime, but the imputation shall not dis- 
courage me. It is a liberty which I hope no gentleman will be 
afraid to exercise; it is a liberty by which the gentleman who 
calumniates it might have profited.. He ought to have desisted from 
his project. We are told America is obstinate, America is almost 
in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted; three 
millions of people so dead to' all the feelings of liberty as volun- 
tarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to 
make slaves of all the rest 

I maintain that Parliment has a right to bind, to restrain Amierica. 
Our legislative power over the Colonies is sovereign and supreme. 
The honoral^le gentlemen tells us he understands not the difference 
between internal and external taxation ; but surely there is a plain 
distinction between taxation levied for the purpose of raising a 
revenue and duties iniposed for the regulation of commierce. 
'When,' said the honorable gentleman, 'were the Colonies emanci- 
pated f At what time, say I, in answer, 'were they made slaves?' 
I speak from accurate knowledge when I say, that the profits to 
Great Britain from the trade of the Colonies, through all its 
branches, is two millions per annum. This is the fund which car- 
ried 3'ou triumphantly through the war; this is the price 
America pays you for her protection ; and shall a miserable financier 
come with a boast that he can fetch a pepper-com into the 
Exchequer at the loss of millions to the nation ? I loiow the valour 
of your troops, I know the skill of your officers, I know the force 
of this country; but in such a cause your success would be hazard- 
ous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man; she woidd 
embrace the pillars of the state and pull down the Constitution with 
her. Is this your boasted peace? not to sheathe the sword in the 
scabbard, l)ut to sheathe it in the bowels of your coi^ntrymen? 
The Americans have been wronged, they have been driven to mad- 
ness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness yon have 
occasioned ? N"o ; let this country be the first to resume its 
prudence and temper. I will pledge myself for the Colonies, that, 
on their part, animosity and resentment will cease. The system 



176 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-178G. . 

of policy I would earnestly exhort Great Britain to' adopt in rela- 
tion to America is happily expressed in the words of a favorite 
poet : 

'Be to her faults a little blind. 

Be to her virtues very kind; 

Let all her ways be unconfin'd, 

And clap your padlock on her mind.' 

Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House in a few 
words what is really my opinion. It is, That the Stamp Act be 
repealed, ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY and IMMEDIATELY/' 

On the 23d day of February, 176G, a bill was introduced in the 
House of Commons having for its purpose the repeal of the Stamp 
Act, which bill was carried by a vote of 275 for, to 177 against, its _ 
repeal. The joy of the people at the result of this action of the 
House of Commons was great. The opposition to the repeal of 
the Stamp Act in the House of Peers was much stronger than in 
the House of Commons, and it was not till the 18th day of March, 
1766, that the repeal was carried, and then by a majority of only 
34. On the 19th day of March, 1766, the King appeared in the 
House of Commons and gave his assent, and thereby the war 
between the English Colonies and the British Government was 
averted for the time being. 

In Virginia, this information was received with great joy by 
all classes of people, and the Virginia House of Burgesses 
voted a statue to the King. The joy that followed the repeal of 
the Stamp Act was of but short cluration. The Colonies began to 
realize that, by the repeal of the Stamp Act, England had virtually " 
surrendered nothing, as Parliament still maintained the right to 
tax the Colonists, and, by the fall of the year 1766, discontent again 
pervaded the Colonies. The Virginia House of Burgesses post- 
poned the consideration of the Act providing for a statue for the 
King until some succeeding session. . When the new Parliament 
assembled in the year 1767, they received information that the 
Assembly of New Yo-rk had refused to pass a bill providing for 
the support of his Majesty's troops which had been stationed among 
the people of that Colony. Whereupon Mr. Grenville, the leader 
of the Parliamentary forces favoring the taxation of the American 
colonies, introduced a bill the object of which was to restrain the 
Assembly and Council of New York from passing any act, until 
they had complied with the requisition ol the act thus mentioned, 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 177 

which bill was almost immediately passed and became a law. About 
the same time a body of British troops arrived in Boston, and 
Governor Bernard immediately began to provide for their support 
out of the public treasury. Both of the above acts produced a great 
deal of discontent in the Colonies, and in the month of June, 1767, 
a bill was introduced by Charles Townsend in the British Parlia- 
ment, imposing duties on glass, painters' colours, tea and paper, 
imported into the Colonies. Also, another bill authorizing the 
King to appoint a Board of Trade to reside in the Colonies. Also, 
a bill establishing a Board of Admiralty in the Colonies to be paid 
from the colonial revenue, but to be independent of all colonial 
regulations, and another bill fixing the salaries of the Governors 
and other officials of the American Colonies. These several bills 
passed the House of Commons with but two dissenting votes, and 
received the royal assent on the 2d day of July, 1767. 

It will be observed that the system of taxation proposed by Mr. 
Townsend and adopted by the British Parliament was, beyond 
question, a legal exercise of the right of Parliament to regulate the 
commerce of the Colonies, and this right had oftentimes, thereto- 
fore, been admitted by the American Colonists, but the people of 
New York and of Massachusetts were greatly irritated by the 
presence of the British soldiery in their respective Colonies, and 
acting upon the presumption that this action of the British Parlia- 
ment was nothing more than a forerunner of other oppressive meas- 
ures against the Colonies, numerous petitions and remonstrances 
were addressed to the King and Parliament, but failed to accom- 
plish any good result. The merchants and citizens of nearly all 
the Colonies assembled in their different towns and bound them- 
selves not to purchase goods of any character from the British 
manufacturers, while these obnoxious laws continued in force. 

The Assembly of Massachusetts Colony addressed a circular letter 
to the Legislatures of the other Colonies requesting their assistance 
and co-operation, which letter was responded to by all the Colonies, 
expressing their willingness to stand with Massachusetts by what 
had been done and expressing their readiness to co-operate in what 
might further be proposed for the common security and welfare of 
the Colonies. 

Bernard, the Eoyal Governor of Massachusetts, communicated to 
Lord Hillsborough, the Secretary for the Colonies, the action of the 



178 Southwest Virginia, 174G-178G. 

Massachusetts Assembly; whereupon, his lordship directed Gover- 
nor Bernard tO' require the Massachusetts Legislature, jin liis 
Majesty's name, to rescind their action, upon the penalty of being 
dissolved, which message the Governor immediately communicated 
to the Assembly, whereupon, the Assembly voted not to rescind 
their action, the vote being 17 yeas to 19 nays, and they declared, 
"if the votes of the House are to be controlled by the direction of 
a minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty." The 
Governor, thereupon, dissolved the House according to his threat, 
and the Governors of the other Colonies dissolved their respective 
Assemblies upon their refusing to rescind their action endorsing 
the Massachusetts resolves. 

Lord Hillsborough, upon the receipt of this information, wrote 
to General Gage, the British Commander at Boston, that at least 
one regiment of troop would be sent to Boston to assist in preserving 
peace. Upon receipt of this information, a meeting was held by 
the people of Boston, and a committee appointed to wait upon 
the Governor and request him to call the Assembly together. 
This committee waited upon the Governor and presented their 
request, which was denied. Thereupon, it was determined to hold 
a general convention in the city of Boston, on the 23d of September, 
and all the towns in the province of Massachusetts were requested 
to send and did send delegates to this Convention. 

The Convention met at Faneuil Hall, Boston, and adopted sev- 
eral resolutions and adjourned. Soon thereafter, two regiments 
of troops landed in Boston and, by direction of the Governor, were 
quartered in the two public houses of the city, which gave great 
umbrage to the people and produced constant difficulties between 
the citizens and the soldiers. 

The Colony of Massachusetts was in open rebellion against the 
British Governor and the Parliament. At a meeting O'f the British 
Parliament in the year 1769, a measure was adopted which was 
intended to be a death blow to the liberties of the Colonies. This 
measure directed the Governor of Massachusetts to ascertain the 
namjes of all persons guilty of treason or misprisions committed 
since the 30th day of December, 1767, and transmit this informa- 
tion to on.e of the Secretaries of State, in order that his Majesty 
might issue a special commission for inquiring of, hearing and 
determining the said offences within the realm of Great Britain. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-17SG. 179 

Heretofore, the offending Americans had been tried by a jury of 
their own countrymen, upon all the charges that were preferred 
b}'' the royal government, and, as a general rule, acquitted, but 
now the British Parliament proposed to have them arrested and 
transported across the seas for trial in England. The Virginia 
House of Burgesses assembled a fcAv days after the receipt of this 
information and adopted a series of resolutions, "declaring their 
exclusive right to tax their constituents and to petition the Sover- 
eign, either separately or conjointly with the other Colonies, and 
affirming that the seizing of any person residing in the said Colony, 
suspected of any crime whatsoever committed therein, and sending 
such persons beyond the seas to be tried was highly derogatory 
to the rights of British subjects." These resolutions were pre- 
sented behind closed doors for the purpose of preventing the royal 
Governor froin dissolving the Assembly before their adoption. The 
example of Virginia was followed by the Assemblies of the several 
Colonies. 

In the fall of the year 1769, Lord Hillsborough, the British 
Secretary for the Colonies, addressed a circular letter to the Gov- 
ernors of all the Colonies, informing them that, at the next session 
of Parliament, the duty upon glass, paper and painters' colors 
would be removed. 

The next session of the British Parliament convened on the 9th 
day of January, 1770, and, on the 22d day of February, the 
Marquis of Pockingham introduced the subject of the repeal of 
these onerous duties, in the following manner. He said, "That 
the present unhapi)y condition of affairs and the universal discon- 
tent of the people did not arise from any immediate temporary 
cause, but had growTi upon the nation by degrees from t^ie moment 
of his Majesty's accession to the throne ; that a total change had 
then taken place in the old system of English government and a 
new maxim adopted fatal to the liberties of the country, viz., that 
the royal prerogative alone was sufficient to support government, 
to whatever hands the administration should be committed." "The 
operation of this principle," said his lordship, "can be traced 
through every act of government during the present reign, in 
which his Majesty's secret advisers could be supposed to have any 
influence. He recommended, therefore," strongly to their lordships 
to fix an early day for taking into consideration the state of the 



180 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

country in all its relations and dependencies, foreign, provincial 
and doniestick, for we had been injured in them all. That 
consideration, he trusted, would lead their Lordships to advise the 
Crown, not only how to correct past errors, but how to establish 
a system of government more wise, more permanent, better suited 
to the genius of the people and consistent with the spirit of the 
Constitution." 

Before a vote was reached ujwn this motion, the Duke of Grafton 
resigned the office of first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and 
was succeeded Ijy Lord Nortli, who remained at the head of the 
administration until the close of the American Revolution. 

Among the first acts of Lord North's administration was one 
for the repeal of the port duties fixed by the act of 1767, with one 
exception, that being the duty on tea, "which the British Ministry 
desired to remain in force, as an evidence of the supremacy of the 
Parliament." It was argued by the friends of the repeal of the 
port duties, that to retain the duty on tea would simply continue 
the agitation and increase the disturbance in the Colonies without 
accomplishing any good results. To such arguments, Ijord North 
answered, "Has the repeal of the Stamp Act taught the Americans 
obedience? Has our lenity inspired them with moderation? 
Can it be proper, while they deny our legal power to 
tax them, to acquiesce in the argument of illegality and, by the 
repeal of the whole law, to give up that power? No! the proper 
time to exert our right to taxation is when the right is refused. 
To temporize is to yield, and the authority of the mother country, 
if it is now unsupported, will in reality be relincpiislied for ever. 

"A total repeal/' he continued, "cannot he thought of till America 
is PROSTRATE AT OUR FEET." 

It seems peculiar that the English ministry should have been so 
short sighted as to thus insult the American Colonies, at the same 
time that they were making to them great concessions with the 
avowed purpose of restoring the Colonies to peace and quietude. 
While the British Government lost the benefit of the import duties 
by the repeal of the act of 1767, still, by the retention of the duty 
on tea, the cause of the discontent in the Colonies remained. The 
insult offered to the Colonists by Lord North in his speech, and the 
presence of the King's troops in the province of Massachusetts and 
New York, kept up the agitation in the Colonies, producing mob- 



Southtuest Virginia, 1746-1786. 181 

violence at many places. In the city of Boston a difficulty occurred 
between one of the King's soldiers and a citizen of the town, which 
resulted in the defeat of the soldier. He obtaining the assistance 
of a few of his comrades, the contest between the citizens and the 
soldiers became general, and the citizens, assembling in great 
numbers, compelled Governor Hutchinson to remove the soldiers 
immediately from the town. Similar difficulties occurred in New 
York and in Ehode Island. Thus matters continued imtil the 
12th of March, 1773, when Dabney Carr, a member of the House 
of Burgesses ol Virginia, introduced the following resolutions in 
the House of Burgesses; which resolutions were adopted without a 
dissenting voice. 

"Whereas the m,inds of his Majesty's faithful subjects in this 
Colony have been much disturbed by various rumours and rejiorts 
of proceedings, tending to deprive them of their ancient legal and 
constitutional rights; 

'^^And whereas the afPairs of this Colony are frequently con- 
nected with those of Great Britain, as well as the neighboring 
Colonies, which renders a coiiimunication of sentiment necessary. 
In order, therefore, to remove the uneasiness and to quiet the 
minds of the people, as well as for the other good purposes above 
mentioned, 

"Be it resolved, that a standing committee of correspondence 
and inquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven persons, to-wit: 
the honoral)le Peyton l^andolph, esquire, Robert C. Nicholas, 
Richard Bland, Richard H. Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund 
Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archiliald 
Cary and Thomas Jefferson, esquires, any six of whom to be a 
committee, whose business it shall be to olitain the most early and 
authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British 
Parliament or proceedings of administration as may relate to, or 
affect the British Colonies in America ; and to keep up and main- 
tain a correspondence and communication witli our sister Colonies, 
respecting these important considerations ; and the result of such 
their proceedings, from time to time to lay before this House. 

"Resolved, That it ]ye an instruction to the said committee that 
they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of the 
principles and authority on which was constituted a court of 
enquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode Island, with 



182 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

powers to transport persons accused of offences committed in 
America to places beyond the seas to be ti'ied. 

"Eesolved, That the Speaker of this House do transmit to the 
Speakers of the different Assemblies of the British Colonies on the 
Continent, copies of the said resohitions, and desire tliat they will 
lay them before their respective Assemblies, and request them to 
appoint some person or persons of their respective bodies tO' com- 
municate, from time to time, with tlie said committee." 

The retention of the duty on tea and the action of the different 
Colonies in entering into an agreement neither to buy nor to sell, 
nor pay any duty upon teas imported into the Colonies, had been 
so rigidly observed that the East India Company suffered great 
inconvenience from the accumulation of their stock and the refusal 
of the American Colonists to purchase; and, to remedy this state 
of affairs, this company proposed to the British Parliament to pay 
double the amount of the import duties on tea if the Parliament 
would repeal the duties, but the object of the Parliament not being 
the collection of a revenue, but the subjection of the American 
Colonies, the offer of the East India Company remained imac- 
cepted, and the oppression of the American Colonies continued 
until it was evident that the American people had determined to be 
free. After some time an act was passed by the British Parliament 
allowing the East India Company to export their teas to America 
free of duty, after which, large quantities of tea were shipped by 
the company to Boston, Kew York, Philadelphia and Charleston. 

As soon as the Americans heard of the repeal of the duty on tea 
and the shipments made by the East Indian Company, they deter- 
mined that the tea should never be disposed of in America. When 
the ships bearing this tea arrived at the American ports, they were 
compelled to return immediately witEout unloading their cargo. 

In the city of Boston a scene of great disorder prevailed. The 
captain of the vessel carrying the tea made an application to the 
Governor for the papers necessary to enable him to return to 
England without unloading, which request the Governor positively 
refused to comply with. Of this action the people were informed, 
and, thereupon, a number, disguising themselves as Mohawk 
Indians, boarded the ship, took out three hundred and forty-two 
chests of tea and emptied their contents into the water. It was 
thought that this occurrence would precipitate the war between the 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 183 

Colonies and England, but such was not the case. Upon the receipt 
of the news of the destruction of the tea. Lord North introduced 
a. bill for the closing of the port of Boston. The Constitution and 
Charter of the province of Massachusetts were taken ont of the 
hands of tlie people and placed in the hands of the king, and all 
the officers of the Colony were made dependent upon the king. 
A bill was also passed levying a fine upon the city of Boston to 
compensate the East India Company for the tea destroyed, and 
another law was enacted providing that any of the king's officers, 
charged with the commission of murder in the execution of their 
duties in the Colonies, should be brought to England for trial. All 
of tlie foregoing bills had been passed and received the royal assent 
by the 20th day of May, 1774. 

The consideration of these measures by the House of Commons 
produced a long and heated debate, during which Colonel Barre, 
who had on a previous occasion ably defended the Colonies, con- 
eluded an able and patriotic speech in opposition to these measures 
in these words : "You have changed your ground. You are becom- 
ing the aggressors, and offering the last of human outrages to the 
])eople of America, by subjecting them, in effect, to military execu- 
tion. Instead of sending them the olive branch, you have sent them 
the naked sword. By the olive branch I mean a repeal of all the 
late laws, fruitless to you and oppressive to them. Ask their aid 
in a constitutional manner, and they will give it to the utmost of 
their ability. They never yet refused it, when properly required. 
Your journals bear the recorded acknowledgments of the zeal with 
which they have contributed to the general necessities of the State. 
What madness is it that prompts you to attempt obtaining that hy 
force, which you may more certainly procure by requisition. They 
may he flattered into anything, but they are too much like your- 
selves to he driven. Have some indulgence for your own likeness, 
respect their sturdy English virtue, retract your odious exertions 
of authority, and remember that the first step towards making them 
contribute to your wants is to reconcile them to- your government." 

At the same time William Pitt, now Lord Chatham, gave the 
House of Lords his views upon the bills proposed and the condition 
of American affairs, in the following words: 

"If, my Lords, we take a transient view of those motives which 
induced the ancestors of our fellow subjects in America to leave 



184 Southwest Virginia, 17J,0-17SG. 

their native country, to encounter the innumerahle difficulties of the 
unexplored regions of the western world, our astonishment at the 
present conduct of their descendants will naturally subside. There 
was no corner of the globe to which they would not have fled, rather 
than submit to the slavish and tyrannical spirit which prevailed 
at that period in their native country ; and viewing them in their 
original forloi'u and now flourishing state, they may be cited as 
illustrious instances to instruct the world what great exertions man- 
kind will naturally make, when left to the free exercise of their 
own powers. Notwithstanding my intention to give my hearty 
negative to the question now l)efore you, I condemn, my Lords, in 
the severest manner, the turbulent and unwarrantable conduct of 
of the Americans, in some instances, particularly in the late riots 
at Boston, but, my Lords, the mode which has been pi>i"sued to 
l)ring them 1)ack to a sense of their duty is so diametrically oppo- 
site to every principle of sound policy, as to excite my utmost 
astonishment. You have involved the guilty and the innocent in 
one common jmnishment, and avenge tlie crime of a few lawless 
depredators upon the whole body of the inhabitants. My Lords, 
the different ]irovinces of America, in the excess of their gratitude 
for the repeal of the Stamp Act, seemed to vie with each other in 
the expressions of loyalty and duty ; but the moment they per- 
ceived that your intention to tax them was renewed, under a pre- 
tense of serving the East India Company, their resentment got the 
ascendant of their moderation and hurried them into actions which 
their cool reason would abhor. But, my Lords, from the whole 
complexion of the late proceedings, I cannot but incline to think, 
that the administration has purposely irritated them into these 
violent acts, in order to gratify their own malice and revenge. 
What else could induce them to dress Taxation, the Father of 
American Sedition, in the robes of an East India Director, but to 
break in u])on that mutual peace and harmony which then so hap- 
pily subsisted l)etween the Colonies and the mother coimty. My 
Lords, it has always been my fixed and imalterable opinion, and I 
will carry it with me to the grave, that this country had no right 
U7ider heaven to tax America. It is contrary to all the principles 
of justice and civil policy; it is contrary to that essential, unalter- 
able right in nature, ingrafted into the British Constitution as a 
fundauuMital law, that what a man has honestly acquired is abso- 



Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 185 

lutely his own, which lie may freely give, but which canuot be 
taken away from him without his consent. Pass then, my Lords, 
instead of these harsh and severe edicts, an amnesty over their 
errours ; by measures of lenity and affection allure them to their 
diity ; act the jjart of a generous, forgiving parent. A period may 
arrive, when this parent may stand in need of every assistance she 
can receive from a grateful and affectionate offspring. The welfare 
of this country, my Lords, has ever been my greatest joy, and, 
under all the vicissitudes of my life, has afforded me the most 
pleasing consolation. Should the all-disposing hand of Providence 
prevent me from contributing my poor and feeble aid in the day 
of her distress, my prayers shall be ever for her prosperity ; "Length 
of days be in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor ! 
May her ways be ways of pleasantness, and all her paths be peace !" 

The Ijogislature of Virginia was in session when the Boston 
Port Bill arrived, and their sense of it was imanediately expressed 
by the following order : "This House, being deeply impressed with 
apprehension of the great dangers to he derived to' British America 
from the hostile invasion of the city of Boston, in our sister Colony 
of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on the 
1st day of June next, to be stopped l)y an armed force, deem it 
highly necessary that the said 1st day of June next be set apart by 
the members of this House as a day of fasting, humiliation and 
prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition for averting the 
heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights and 
the evils of civil war; to give us one heart and one mind, firmly toi 
oppose, l)y all just and proper means, every injury to American 
rights ; and that the minds of his Majesty and Parliament may be 
inspired from above with wisdom, moderation and justice, to 
remove from the loyal people of America all cause of danger, from 
a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with their ruin. 

''^Ordered, therefore. That the members of this House do attend 
at their places at the hour of ten in the forenoon, on the said 1st day 
of June next, in order to proceed with the Speaker and the Mace, to 
the church in this city, for the purposes aforesaid; and that the 
reverend Mr. Price be appointed to read prayers and to preacli a 
sermon suitable to the occasion." 

Lord Dunmore, the Governor of the Virginia Colony at that 
time, immediately upon the receipt of the information as to the 



186 Southiocst Virginia, 1746-1786. 

action taken by the Virginia House of Burgesses, dissolved the 
House. But the patriotic Virginians were not to be thus deprived 
of their right to speak their sentiments; for on the following day, 
eighty-nine members formed an association and adopted the fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

"We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal siihjects, the late repre- 
sentatives of the good ]>eople of this Colony, having been deprived, 
by the sudden interposition of the executive part of this government, 
from giving our countrymen the advice we wished to convey to 
them in a legislative capacity, find ourselves under the hard neces- 
sity of adopting this, the only method we have left, of pointing out 
to our countrymen, such measures as, in our opinion, are best 
fitted to secure our dear rights and liberty from destruction by the 
heavy hand of power now lifted against North America. With 
much grief we find that our dutiful applications to Great Britain 
for tlie security of our just, ancient and constitutional rights, have 
not only been disregarded, but that a determined system is formed 
and pursued for reducing the inhabitants of British America to 
slavery, by subjecting them to the payment of taxes imposed with- 
out the consent of the people or their representatives; and that, 
in pursuit of this system, we find an Act of the British Parliament, 
lately passed, for stopping the harbour and the commerce of the 
town of Boston, in our sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, until 
the people there submit to the payment of such unconstitutional 
taxes;. and which Act most violently and arbitrarily deprives them 
of their property, in wharves erected by private persons, at their 
own great and proper expense, which Act is, in our opinion, a most 
dangerous attempt to destroy the constitutional liberty and rights 
of all North America. It is further our opinion, that as tea, on its 
importation to America, is charged with a duty imposed by Par- 
liament for the purpose of raising a revenue without the consent 
of the people, it ought not to be used by any person Avho wishes well 
to the constitutional rights and liberties of British America. And 
whereas, the India Company have ungenerously attempted to ruin 
America, by sending many ships loaded with tea into the Colonies, 
thereby intending to fix a precedent in favour of arbitrary taxation, 
we deem it highly proper, and do accordingly recommend it strongly 
to our countrymen, not to purchase or use any kind of East India 
commodity whatsoever, except salt-petre and spices, until the griev- 



Southwest Virginia, 111^6-1786. 187 

ances of America are redressed. We are further clearly of opinion, 
that an attack made upon one of our sister Colonies, to' compel 
submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British 
America, and threatents ruin to the rights of all, unless the united 
wisdom of the whole be applied. And for this purpose it is recom- 
mended to the committee of correspondence, that they communi- 
cate with their several corresponding committees, on the expedi- 
ency of appointing deputies from the several Colonies of British 
America, to meet in General Congress, at such a place annually as 
shall be thought most convenient ; there to delibei-ate on those gen- 
eral measures which the united interest of America may, from time 
to time, require. 

"A tender regard for the interest of our fellow-subjects, the 
merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain, prevents us from 
going further at this time; most earnestly hoping that the un- 
constitutional principle of taxing the Colonies without their con- 
sent will not be persisted in, thereby to compel us against our will, 
to avoid all commercial intercourse with Great Britain. Wishing 
them and our people free and happy, we are their affectionate 
friends, the late representatives of Virginia." 

This association was formed on the 27th day of May, 1774, and 
Stephen Trigg and William Christian, the representatives of Fin- 
castle county, ia the Virginia House of Burgesses, were members 
of this association. 

Virginia had not suffered from the acts of the British Parlia- 
ment as had the colonies of New York, Massachusetts, and Ehode 
Island, but her statesmen of those days were actuated by princi- 
ples that they loved and cherished, and, with a political wisdom 
which should be the admiration of all the citizens of Virginia, 
they were always ready and willing to resist any encroachnient 
upon those principles, whether the encroachments were made in 
their own home or in the sister colonies. 

The 1st day of June, 1774, was observed in most of the colo- 
nies as a day of fasting and prayer, and in Virginia all business 
was suspended, and the citizens bore a dejected aspect, but were 
contemplating a brighter day, when their sorrow would be turned 
to joy. 

On the 17th day of June, 1774, the Legislature of the Massa- 
chusetts Colony adopted a resolution calling a Congress of the rep- 



188 South ircst Virginiih 17J,6-17S6. 

resontatives of the cokmies at Phila(]e]phia on the 5th day of 
September, 1774. The royal Governor of Massachusetts imme- 
diately dissolved the Legislature as a punishment. 

In Virginia the representatives of the several counties met at 
Williamsburg on August 1, 1774, aud adopted the following reso- 
lutions, which fitly expressed the sentiments of the people of Vir- 
ginia : 

"The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her Ameri- 
can colonies, which began about the third year of the reign of his 
present Majesty and since continually increasing, have proceeded 
to lengths so dangerous and alarming as to excite just apprehen- 
sions in the minds of his Majesty's faithful subjects of the Colony 
that they are in danger of being deprived of their natural, an- 
cient constitutional and chartered rights, and have cjompelled 
them to take the same into their most serious consideration; and 
being deprived of their usual and accustomed mode of making 
known their grievances, have appointed us, their represen- 
tatives, to consider what is proper to be done in this dangerous 
crisis of American affairs. It being our opinion, that the united 
wisdom of North America should be collected in a general Con- 
gress of all the Colonies, we have appointed the following gen- 
tlemen as deputies to represent this Colony in the said Congress, 
to be held at Philadelphia, on the first Monday in September 
next, viz., Peyton Eandolph, Eichard Henry Lee, George Wash- 
ington, Patrick Henry, Eichard Bland, Benjamin Harrison and 
Edmimd Pendleton. — and that they may be the better informed 
of our sentiments touching the conduct we wish them to observe 
on this important occasion, we desire that they will express, in the 
first place, our faith and our allegiance to his Majesty King George 
the third, our lawful and rightful sovereign ; and that we are de- 
termined, with our lives and fortunes, to support hiui in the le- 
gal exercise of all his just rights and pj-erogatives. And, however, 
misrepresented, we sincerely approve of a constitutional connexion 
with Great Britain, and wish most ardently a return of that inter- 
course of affection and commercial connexion that formerly united 
both countries ; which can only be effected by a removal of those 
causes of discontent which have of late unhappily divided us. 

"It cannot admit of a doubt that British sulijects in America 
are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their fellow sub- 



Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-17SG. 189 

jects possess in Britain, and therefore that the power as- 
sumed by the British Parliament to bind America by their statutes, 
in all cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional and the source of these 
unhappy dilferences. 

"The end of government would be defeated by the British Par- 
liament exercising a power over the lives, the property and the 
liberty of American subjects, who are not and, from their local 
circumstances, cannot be, there represented. Of this nature we 
consider the several Acts ol Parliament for raising a revenue in 
America, for extending the jurisdiction of the courts of Admiralty, 
for seizing American subjects and transporting them to Britain 
to be tried for crimes committed in America, and the several late 
oppressive Acts respecting the town of Boston and Province of 
Massachusetts Bay. 

"The original constitution of the American Colonies possessing 
their assemblies with the sole right of directing their internal 
policy, it is absolutely destructive to the end of their institution 
that their legislatures should be suspended, ot prevented by hasty 
dissolutions, from exercising their legislative powers. 

"Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long acquiesced in 
their i\cts of navigation, restrictive of our commerce, which we 
consider as an ample recompense for such protection, but as those 
Acts derive their efficacy from that foundation alone, we have 
reason to expect they will be restrained, so as to produce the rea- 
sonable purposes of Britain and not be injurious to us. 

"To obtain redress ol these grievances, without which the peo- 
ple of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy, they are will- 
ing to undergo the great inconvenience that will be derived to them 
from stopping all imports whatsoever from Great Britain after 
the first day of November next, and also to cease exporting 
any commodity whatsoever to the same place, after the 10th day 
of August, 1775. The earnest desire we have to make as quick and 
full payment as possible of our debts to Great Britain, and to avoid 
the heavy injury that would arise to this country from an earlier 
adoption of the non-importatJon plan, after the people have al- 
ready applied so much of their labor to the perfecting of the pi-es- 
ent crop, by which means they have been prevented from pursuing 
other methods of clothing and supporting their families, has ren- 
dered it necessary to restrain you in this article of non-exporta- 



190 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

tion; but it is our desire that you cordially co-operate with our 
sister Colonies in general Congress, in such other just and proper 
methods, as they, or the majority, shall deem necessary for the 
accomplishment of these valuable ends. 

"The proclamation issued by General Gage, in tlie government of 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay, declaring it treason for the 
inhabitants of that Province to assemble themselves to consider of 
their grievances and to form associations for their common conduct 
on tlie occasion, and requiring the civil magistrates and officers to 
apprehend all such persons to be tried for their supposed offences, 
is the most alarming process that ever appeared in a British Gov- 
ernment; the said General Gage has thereby assumed and taken 
upon himself powers denied by the constitution to our legal Sover- 
eign. He not having condescended to disclose by what authority 
he exercises such extensive and unheard of powers, we are at a 
loss to determine whether he intends to justify himself as the rep- 
representative of the King, or as the Commander in Chief of his 
Majesty's forces in America. If he considers himself as acting 
in the character of his Majesty's representative, we would remind 
him that the statute 20th, Edward III., has expressed and defined 
all treasonable offences, and that the Legislature of Great Britain 
hath declared that no offence shall be construed to be treason but 
such as is pointed out by that statute; and that this was done to 
take out of the hands of tyrannical Kings, and of weak and wicked 
Ministers, that deadly weapon which constructive treason had 
furnished them with, and which had drawn the blood of the best 
and honestest men in the kingdom, and that the King of Great 
Britain hath no right by his proclamation to subject his people to 
imprisonment, pains, and penalties. 

"That if the said General Gage conceives he is empowered to 
act in this manner, as the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's 
forces in America, this odious and illegal proclamation mi^st be 
considered as a plain and full declaration that this despotick Vice- 
roy will be bound by no law, nor regard the constitutional rights 
of his Majesty's subjects, wherever they interfere with the plans 
he has formed for oppressing the good people of the Massachusetts 
Bay; and therefore that the executing, or attempting to execute 
such proclamation, will justify resistance and reprisal." 

All of the American colonies, with the exception of Georgia, 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 191 

joined in the eoanraon cause and sent delegates to the Philadel- 
phia Congress. 

The second Continental Congress of the American colonies as- 
sembled in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, fifty-two dele- 
gates from twelve colonies present. This Congress was organized 
by the election of tbe following officers : 

President, Peyton Eandolph, of Virginia. 

Secretary, Charles Thomipson, of Pennsylvania. 

Patrick Henry, of Virginia, was the first member of this Con- 
gress to address the chair upon the issues which had brought them 
together. This Congress of able men and noble patriots occupied 
moTe than a month's time in serious deliberation before anything 
of importance was done. On the 8th of October, 1774 (two days_ 
before the battle at Point Pleasant) they adopted the following 
resolutions : 

"Resolved, That this Congress do approve of the opposition 
MADE BY THE inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the exe- 
cution of the late Acts of Parliament ; and if the same shall be at- 
tempted to be carried into execution by force, in such case all 
America ought to support them in their opposition. 

"Resolved, That it is the opinion of this body, that the removal 
of the people of Boston into the country would be not only ex- 
tremely difficult in the execution, but so important in its conse- 
quences as to require the utmost deliberation before it is adopted. 
But in case the provincial meeting oi that Colony shall judge it 
absolutely necessary, it is the opinion of this Congress, that all 
America ought to contribute towards recompensing them for the 
injury they may thereby si;stain, and it will be recommended ac- 
cordingly. 

"Resolved, That this Congi-ess do recommend to the inhabitants 
of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay to submit to a suspension of 
the administration of justice, when it cannot be procured in a le- 
gal and peaceable manner, under the rules of the Charter and the 
laws founded thereon, until the effects of our application for a re- 
peal of the Acts, by which their Charter rights are infringed, are 
known. 

"Resolved, unanimously, That every person or persons whoso- 
ever, who shall take, accept, or act under any commission or au- 
thority in any wise derived from the Act passed in the late ses- 



192 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

sion o-f Parliament, changing the form of Government and vio- 
lating the charter of the Province of Massachupetts Bay, ought to 
be held in detestation and abhorrence 1)y all good men and con- 
sidered as the wicked tools of that despotism which is preparing to 
destroy tJiose rights which God, nature and compact have given 
to America." 

On the 1-lth, Congress agreed upon the following preamble and 
resolutions : 

"Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British, Parlia- 
ment, claiming a })ower of right to hind the people of America l)y 
statute, in all cases whatsoever, hath in some Acts expressly im- 
posed taxes on them, and on other various pretences, but in fact for 
the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties 
payable in these Colonies, established a board of commissioners 
with unconstitutional powers and extended the Jurisdiction of 
Courts of Admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but 
for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county. 
And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who before 
held only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependent 
on the Crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in 
time of peace. And it has lately been resolved in Parliament, that 
by force of a statute made in the 35th Henry VIII, colonists may 
be transported to England and tried tliere upon accusations for 
treasons and misjirisions, or concealment of treasons, committed in 
the Colonies; and, by a late statute, such trials have been directed 
in cases therein mentioned. 

"And whereas, in the late session of Parliament, three statutes 
were made, one entitled 'an Act to discontinue in such manner 
and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and dis- 
charging, lading or shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at 
the town and within the harbour of Boston, in the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, in North America,' another entitled 'an Act 
for the lietter regulating the government of the Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay, in New England,' and another entitled 'an Act for 
the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons 
questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law, 
or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, in New England,' and another statute was 
then made 'for making more effectual provision for the govern- 



Southwest Virginia, 17J,G-17S0. 193 

ment of the Province of Quebec, &c./ all of which statutes are 
impolitick, unjust and cruel as well as unconstitutional, and nnost 
dangerous and destructive of American rights. 

"x4.nd whereas, Assemblies have been frequently dissolved, con- 
trary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate 
on grievances, and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable pe- 
titions to tlie crown for redress have been repeatedly treated with 
contempt by his Majesty's Ministers of State. 

"The good people of the several colonies of New Hampshire, 
IMassachusetts Ba}', Kliode Island and Providence Plantations, 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Castle, 
Kent and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, North 
Carolina and South Carolina, justly alarmed at these arbitrary 
proceedings of Parliament and the Administration, have severally 
elected, constituted and appointed deputies, to meet and sit in 
general Congress in the City of Philadelphia, in order to obtain 
such establishment as that their religion, laws and liberties may 
not be subverted : Whereupon, the deputies so appointed being now 
assembled in a full and free representation of these Colonies, tak- 
ing into their most serious consideration the best means of attain- 
ing the ends aforesaid, do in the first place, as Englishmen, their 
ancestors, in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindi- 
cating their rights and liberties, DECLARE ; 

"That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North America, 
])y the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English 
Constitution and tlie several charters of compacts, have the follow- 
ing RIGHTS. 

"Resolved, nomine contradicenie, 1st. That they are entitled to 
life, liberty and property; and they have never ceded to any 
foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their 
consent. 

"Resolved, n. r. 2nd. That our ancestors, who first settled these 
Colonies, M^ere at tlie time of their emigration from the mother 
country, entitled to all the rights, liberties and immunities of free 
and natural ])orn su])jects within the realms of England. 

"Resolved, n. c ord. That by such emigration they by no means 
forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they 
were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and 



194 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

enjoyment of all siicli of them, as their local and other circum- 
stances enable them to exercise and enjoy. 

"Resolved, n. c. 4. That the foundation of English liberty and 
all free government is a right in the people to participate in their 
legislative council ; and "as the English Colonists are not repre- 
sented, and from their local and other circumstances cannot pro- 
])erly be represented in the British Parliament, they are entitled 
to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several Pro- 
vincial I^egislatui-es, where their right of representation alone can 
be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal policy, subject 
only to the negative of their Sovereign, in such manner as has 
lieretofore been accustomed ; but from the necessity of the case 
and a regard to the mutual interests of both countries, we cheer- 
fully consent to the operation of such acts of the British Parlia- 
uient as are bona fde, restrained to the regulation ol our external 
commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages 
of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial 
benefits of its respective members, excluding every idea of taxation, 
internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects in 
America, without their consent. 

"Resolved, n. c. 5. That the respective Colonies are entitled to 
the common law of England, and more especially to the great and 
inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage 
according to the course of that law. 

"Resolved, n. c. 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such 
of the English statutes as existed at the time of their colonization, 
and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be appli- 
cable to their several local and other circumstances. 

"Resolved, n. c. 7. That these, his Majesty's Colonies, are like- 
wise entitled to all tlie immunities and privileges granted and con- 
firmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes 
of Provincial laws. 

"Resolved, n. c. 8. That they have a right peacably to assemble, 
consider of their grievances, and petition the King; and that all 
prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the 
same are illegal. 

"Resolved, n. c. 9. That the keeping a standing army in any 
of these Colonies in times of peace, without the consent of the 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 195 

Legislature of tliat C'olony in wliicli such army is kept, is against 
the law. 

"Eesolved, n. c. 10. It is indispensably necessary to good gov- 
ernment, and rendered essential by the English constitution, that 
the constituent branches of the Legislature be independent of each 
other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several 
Colonies by a Coimcil appointed, during pleasure, by the Crown 
is unconstitutional, dangerous and destructive of the freedom of 
American legislation. 

All and each of which the aforesaid deputies in behalf of them- 
selves and their constituents do claim, demand, and insist upon, 
as their indubitable rights and liberties; which cannot be legally 
taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatsoever, 
without their own consent, by their representatives in their several 
Provincial Legislatures." 

And upon the 20th day of October, 1774, they agi-eed upon the fol- 
lowing articles of association, to which each member present sub- 
scribed his name. 

"First, That from and after the first day of December next, 
we will not import into British America from Great Britain and 
Ireland, any goods, wares, or merchandize whatsoever, or from any 
other place, any such goods, wares or marchandise, as shall have 
been exported from Great Britain or Ireland, nor will we, after that 
day import any East India tea from any part of the world ; nor any 
molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee or pimento, from the British 
plantations, or from Dominica; nor wines from Madeira, or the 
Western Islands; nor foreign indigo. 

"Second, That we will neither import, nor purchase any slave 
imported after the first day of December next; after which time 
we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be con- 
cerned in it ourselves nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our com- 
modities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it. 

"Third, As a non-consumption agreement strictly adhered to 
will be an effectual security for the observation of non-importa- 
tion, we, as above, solemnly agree and associate, that, from this 
day, we will not purchase or use any tea imported on account of 
the East India Company, or any on which a duty hath been or 
shall be paid, and from and after the first day of March next, we 
will not purchase or use any East India tea whatever, nor will we. 



196 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

nor shall any person for or under ns, purchase or use, any of those 
goods, wares or merchandize we have agreed not to import, which 
we shall loiow or have cause to suspect, were imported after the 
first day of December, except such as come under the rules and 
directions of the tenth article hereinafter mentioned. 

"Fourth, The earnest desire we have not to injure our fellow- 
subjects in Great Britain, Ireland or the West Indies, induces us 
to suspend non-exportation, until the tenth day of September 
1775, at which time, if the said Acts and parts of Acts of the 
British Parliament, hereinafter mentioned, are not repealed, we 
will not, directly or indirectly, export any merchandize or com- 
modity whatsoever, to Great Britain, Ireland or the West Indies, 
except via Europe. 

"Fifth, Such as are merchants and use the British and Irish 
trade, will give orders, as soon as possible, to their factors, agents 
and correspondents in Great Britain and Ireland, not to ship any 
goods to them, on any pretence wliatever, as they cannot be received 
in America; and if any merchant residing in Great Britain or 
Ireland shall, directly or indirectly, ship any goods, wares or mer- 
chandize, for America, in order to break the said non-importation 
agreement, or in any 'manner contravene the same, on such 
unworthy conduct being well attested, it ought to be made publick; 
and on the same being so done, we will not from thenceforth have 
any coinmercial connexion with such merchant. 

"Sixth, That such as are owners of vessels will give positive 
orders to their captains, or masters, not to receive on board their 
vessels any goods prohibited by the said non-importation agree- 
ment, on pain of immediate dismission from their service. 

"Seventh, We will use our utmost endeavors to improve the 
breed of sheep and increase their number to the greatest extent; 
and to that end we will kill them as sparingly as may be, especially 
those of the most profitable kind; nor will we export any to the 
West Indies or elsewhere; and those of us who are or may become 
overstocked with, or can conveniently spare any sheep, will dispose 
of them to our neighbors, especially to the poorer sort, on moderate 
terms. 

"Eighth, That we will in our several stations encourage fru- 
gality, economy and industry, and promote agriculture, arts and 
the manufactures of this country, especially that of wool, and will 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 197 

discountenance and discourage every species of extravagance and 
dissii3ation, especially all horse-racing, and all kinds of gaming, 
cock-fighting, exhibitions of shows, plays and other expensive diver- 
sions and entertainments. And on the death of any relation oi 
friend, none of us, or any of our families, will go into any 
further mourning dress than a black crape or ribbon on the arm 
or hat for the gentleman, and a black ribbon or necklace for the 
ladies, and we will discontinue the giving of gloves and scarfs at 
funerals. 

"Ninth, That such as are vendors of goods or merchandize will 
not take advantage of the scarcity of goods that may be occasioned 
by this association, but will sell the same at the rates we have 
been respectively accustomed to do, for twelve months last past. 
And if any vendor of goods or merchandize shall sell such goods 
on higher terms, or shall in any manner, or by any device what- 
soever, violate or depart from this agreement, no person ought, nor 
will any of us deal with any such person, or his, or her factor or 
agent at any time thereafter for any commodity whatever. 

"Tenth, Tn case any merchant, trader, or other persons shall 
import any goods or merchandize, after the first day of December, 
and before the first day of February next, the same ought, forth- 
with, at the election of the owner, to be either reshipped or deliv- 
ered up to the committee of the county ot town wherein they shall 
be imported, to be stored at the risk of the importer, until the non- 
importation agreement shall cease, or be sold under direction of 
the committee aforesaid ; and in the last mentioned case, the owner 
or owners of such goods shall be reimbursed out of the sales the 
first cost and charges, the profit, if any, to be applied towards the 
relieving and employing such poor inhabitants of tlie town of 
Boston as are immediately sufferers by the Boston Port Bill ; and 
a particular account of all goods so returned, stored, or sold, to be 
inserted in the pu])lick papers; and if any goods or merchandizes 
shall be imported after the said first day of February, the same ought 
forthwith, to be sent back again, without breaking any of the 
packages thereof. 

"Eleventh, That a committee be chosen in every county, city, 
and town, by those who are qualified to vote for representatives in 
Legislature, whose business it shall be, attentively to observe the 
conduct of all persons touching the association; and when it shall 



198 Southivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

be made to appear to the satisfaction of a majority of such com- 
mittee, tliat any person within the limits of their appointment 
has viohated (his association, tliat such nmJoTity do forthwith cause 
the truth of tlie case to be published in tlie Gazette, to the end that 
all such foes to the rights of ]>ritish America may be pnblicklv 
known and universally contemned as the enemies of American 
liberty; and thenceforth we will respectively break off all dealings 
with him or her. 

"Twelfth, That the Committee of (Correspondence in the respec- 
tive Colonies do frequently inspect the entries of their custom 
houses, and inform each other from time to time, of the true state 
thereof, and of every other material circimistance that may occur 
relative to this association. 

"Thirteenth, That all manufactures of this country be sold at 
reasonable prices, so that no undue advantages be taken of a future 
scarcity of goods. 

"Fourteenth, And we do further agree and resolve, that we will 
have no trade, commerce, dealings or intercourse whatever with 
any Colony or Province in. North America, which shall not accede 
to, or which shall hereafter violate this association, but will hold 
them as unworthy of the rights of freemen and as inimical to the 
liberties of their country. 

"And we do solemnly bind ourselves and our constituents, imder 
the ties aforesaid, to adhere to this association until such parts 
of the several Acts of Parliament passed since the close of the last 
war as imposed or continue duties on tea, wine, molasses, syrups, 
paneles, coffee, sugar, pimento, indigo, foreign paper, glass and 
painters' colors imported into America, and extend the powers 
of the Admiraltv courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the 
American subjects of trial by Jury, authorize the Judge's certificate 
to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might other- 
wise be liable to, from a trial by his peers, require oppressive secu- 
rity from a claimant of ships or goods seized before he shall be 
allowed to defend his property, are repealed. And imtil that part 
of the Act of the 12 Geo. 3, ch. 24. entitled 'an Act for the better 
securing his Majesty's dock-yards, magazines, ships, ammunition 
and stores,' by which any persons charged with committing any 
of the offences therein described, in America, may be tried in any 
shire or county within the realm, is repealed — and until the four 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 199 

Acts passed in tlie last session of Parliament, viz., that for stopping 
the port and blocking np the harbour of Boston — ^that for alter- 
ing the Charter and Government of the Massachusetts Bay — and 
that which is entitled, "An Act for the better administration of 
justice, &c." — and that for "extending the limits of Quebec, &c.," 
are repealed. And we recommend it to the Provincial Conven- 
tions, and to the committee in the respective Colonies, to establish 
such further regulations as they may think proper, for carrying into 
execution this association." 

After the adoption of the foregoing resolutions and articles of 
association, the Congress drew up a petition to the king, a memo- 
rial to tlie people of England and an address to the people of the 
Colonies, and another to the French Colonists of Quebec, Georgia 
and Nova Scotia. This Congress adjourned on the 26th day of 
October, 1774, after having decided to hold another Congress at the 
same place on the 10th day of May, 1775, if their present grievances 
continued. The proceedings of this Congress have enlisted the 
admiration of the world for more than one hundred and twenty- 
five years, and the work of the fifty-two men composing this Con- 
gress will live while a Pepublican form of Government and free 
institutions exist. 

After the adjournment of this Congress, the Colonies were in 
that condition which precedes the coming of a storm. The people 
were willing to forgive and forget, provided their petitions were 
listened to and their wrongs corrected; otherwise they were ready 
to give their lives and property in defence of their liberty. 

It was now time for the English statesmen to recognize, in the 
resistance of the Colonies, tliat spirit of freedom which has ever 
marked the actions of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

At a meeting of the British Parliament on the 20th day of 
January, 1775, Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colo- 
nies, laid before the House of Peers all the papers relative to the 
American Colonies. As soon as all papers were read, William Pitt, 
the undying friend of the American Colonies, arose and moved that 
an address be presented to the King, requesting him to direct Gen- 
eral Gage to move his Majesty's forces from the town of Boston. 
He said : "America could not be reconciled, she ought not to be 
reconciled to this country, till the troops of Britain are removed 
from the Continent. Resistance to your acts was necessary^ and 



200 Southwest Virgima, 17Jf6-1786. 

therefore just; and yoiii- vain declarations of the omnipotence of 
Parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of sub- 
mission, will be equally iiiii>otent to convince or enslave America. 
You may, no doubt, destroy their citdes, you may cut them off 
from the superfluities, perhaps the conveniences, of life; but 
my Lords, they will still despise your power, for they have yet 
remaining their woods and their liberty. He said that the spirit 
which now animates America was the same that led to the revolu- 
tion in England, and that the friends of liberty on both sides of 
the Atlantic had but one common cause. "In this great cause,'^ 
he continued, "they are immovably allied ; it is the alliance of 
God and Nature, immutable, eternal, fixed as the firmament of 
heaven." His Lordship admitted the right of Parliament to con- 
trol the complicated machinery of commerce and navigation, but 
denied its authority over the property of the people of the Colonies ; 
"property is private, individual, absolute, the touch of another 
annihilates it." He besought the House to rest upon that distinc- 
tion, to allow the Americans to maintain tlieir principles of taxa- 
tion, and to confine the exercise of parliamentary authority to the 
regulation of commerce. Of the Continental Congress the noble 
Earl spoke in a strain of the highest eulogy. "History, my Lords," 
said he, "has been my favorite study, and in the celebrated writings 
of antiquity have I often admired the patriotism of Greece and 
Rome ; but, my Lords, I must declare and avow, that in the master- 
states of the world, I l-noiv not the people or the Senate, who in 
such a complication of difficult circumstances can stand in prefer- 
ence to the Delegates of America, assembled in General Congress 
at Philadelphia. T trust it is obvious to your Tjordships, that all 
attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to establish despotism 
over such a mighty continental nation, must he vain, must he futile." 
The speaker went on to say, that ministerial manoeuvres 
would never be able to resist such a union as that of America, that 
the hour of danger was not to be averted by the tricks of office, that 
matters had now gone so far that even re})ealing the obnoxious 
Acts would not restore the lost confidence of America, unless 
his Majesty's armed force was withdrawn from the Continent. 
The Noble Lord pledged himself, that they would one day find 
themselves compelled to undo all their oppressive acts. He advised 
them, therefore, to enter at once into that course, of their own 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 201 

accord, which they must be ultimatel}^ forced to adopt. "To con- 
chide, my Ijords," said he, "if the Ministers thiis persevere in mis- 
advising and misleading tlie King, I will not say that they can 
alienate the affections of his subjects from the Crown; but, / 
affirm, they ivill mahe the Croivn not worth his wearing, I will 
not say that the King is betrayed, but I will pronounce that the 
Kingdom is undone." 

The motion of Lord Chatham was rejected by a large majority, 
and the British Ministry declared their purpose never to abandon 
a single right until the American Colonies were whipped into 
ohedience. The same day that William Pitt delivered the pre- 
ceding address in the House of Lords, the backwoodsmen of Fin- 
castle county met, pursuant to the resolves of the Continental Con- 
gress, at the Lead Mines, their county seat, and took action in the 
premises ; of which the following is a correct account : 

"In obedience to the resolves of the Continental Congress, a 
meeting of the Freeholders of Fincastle County, in Virginia, was 
held on the 20th day of January, 1775, who, after approving of the 
Association framed by that august body in behalf of all the Colo- 
nies, and subscribing thereto, proceeded to the election of a Com- 
mittee, to see the same carried ]iunctually into execution, when the 
following gentlemen were nominated : the Eeverend Charles Cuni- 
Diings, Colonel William Preston, Colonel Williain Christian, Cap- 
tain Stephen Trigg. ]\Iajor Arthur Campbell, Major William Inglis, 
Captain Walter Crorl-ett. Captain John Montgomery, Captain 
James McGavocl-. Captain William Campbell, Captain Thomas 
Madison, Captain Daniel Smith. Captain William Russell, Captain 
Evan Shelby and Lieutenant William Edmondson.. After the elec- 
tion the committee made choice of Colonel William Christian 
for their chairman, and appointed Mr. David Campbell to be clerk." 

The following address was then unanimously agreed to by the 
people of the county, and is as follows : 

To the Honorable PFYTON EANDOLPH, Esquire, RICH- 
ARD HENRY LEE, GEORGE WASHINGTON, PATRICK 
HENRY, Junior. RICHARD BLAND, BENJAMIN HARRI- 
SON, and EDMUND PENDLETON, Esquires, the Delegates 
from this Colony, ivho attended the Continental Congress held at 
PHILADELPHIA : 

Gentlemen, — Had it not been for our remiote situation and 



203 Southivest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

the Indian Wa?' which we were lately engaged in tO' chastise those 
cruel and savage people for the many murders and depredations 
they have committed amongst us, now happily terminated under 
the auspices of our present worthy Governor, His Excellency the 
Eight Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, we should before this time 
have made known to you our thankfulness for the very important 
services you have rendered to your country, in conjunction with 
the worthy Delegates from the other Provinces. Your noble efforts 
for reconciling the mother country and the Colonies, on rational 
and constitutional principles and your pacifick, steady and uniform 
conduct in that arduous work entitle you to the esteem of all 
'British America, and will immortalize you in the annals of your 
country. We heartily concur in your resolutions, and shall, in 
every instance, strictly and invariably adhere thereto. 

We assure you, gentlemen, and all our countrymen, that we are 
a people whose hearts overflow with love and duty to our lawful 
Sovereign, George the Third, whose illustrious House for several 
successive reigns have been the guardians of the civil and religious 
rights and liberties of British subjects, as settled at the glorious 
Revolution ; that we are willing to risk our lives in the service of his 
Majesty for the support of the Protestant religion and the rights and 
liberties of his subjects, as they have been established by compact, 
law and ancient charters. We are heartily grieved at the dif- 
ferences which now subsist between the parent state and the Colo- 
nies, and most ardently wish to see harmony restored on an equi- 
table basis and by the most lenient measures that can be devised 
by the heart of man. Many of us and our forefathers left our 
native land, considering it as a kingdom subjected to inordinate 
power and greatly abridged of its liberties; we crossed the Atlantic, 
and explored this then uncultivated wilderness bordering on many 
nations of savages and surrounded by mountains almost inacces- 
sible to any but those very savages, who liave incessantly been com- 
mitting barbarities and depredations on us since our first seating 
the country. These fatigues and dangers we patiently encoun- 
tered, supported by the pleasing hope of enjoying those rights and 
liberties which had been granted to Virginians, and were denied 
us in our native country, and of transmitting them inviolate to 
our posterity ; but even to these remote regions the hand of unlim- 
ited and unconstitutional power hath pursued us, to strip us of 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 303 

that liberty and property with which God, nature and the rights 
of humanity have vested ns. We are ready and willing to contri- 
bute all in our power for the support of his Majesty's government, 
if applied to constitutionally, and when the grants are made by our 
own Eepresentatives, but cannot think of submitting our liberty 
or property to the power of a venal British Parliament, or to the 
will of a corrupt Ministry. We by no means desire tO' shake off our 
duty or allegiance to our lawful sovereign, but, on the contrary, 
shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of a Protestant prince, 
descended from such illustrious progenitors, so long as we can 
enjoy the free exercise of our religion as Protestants, and our 
liberties and properties as British Subjects. 

But if no pacifick measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great 
Britain, and our enemies will attempt tO' dragoon us out of those 
inestimable privileges, which we are entitled to as subjects, and 
to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare that we are deliberately 
and resolutely determined never to surrender them to any power 
upon earth but at the expense of our lives. 

These are our real, though unpolished, sentiments of liberty and 
loyalty, and in them we are resolved to live and die. 

We are, gentlemen, with the most perfect esteem and regard, 
your .most obedient servants. 

The meeting of the freeholders of Fincastle county, on the 20th 
of January, 1775, in answer to the resolves of the Continental Con- 
gress was not the first meeting held for this purpose in the Colony, 
but it was, as far as we have any record, the first meeting in which 
the freeholders declared that they were deliberately and resolutely 
determined never to surrender their inestimable privileges to any 
power upon earth but at the expense of their lives. The senti- 
ments of this meeting were definitely stated by the Committee of 
Safety when they declared that the freeholders of Fincastle county 
did not desire to shake off their allegiance to their lawful sovereign 
us long as they could enjoy the free exercise of their religion as 
Protestants and their liberties and properties as British subjects. 
The Committee of Safety, appointed by the freeholders of Fin- 
castle county, was composed of fifteen men, any one of whom, by 
reason of his intelligence and patriotism, was competent to draft 
the address before given. 

The members of that committee livinff at that time on lands 



304 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

afterwards within the limits of the county of Washington, were 
seven in number, as follows : 

lieverend Charles Cummings, Major Arthur Campbell, 

Captain William Campbell, Captain Daniel Smith, 

Captain William Eussell, C^apt-ain Evan Shelby, 

Lieutenant VVilliatn Edmiston. 

Early in the year 1775, the British Parliament passed a bill 
estraining the trade of Virginia and that of a number of the other 
colonies. 

Several efforts were made by members of this Parliament to 
l:ave measures adopted that would have a tendency to bring the 
i "olonies and Great Britain together, but all to no purpose. In 
Mie Virginia House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry introduced a num- 
'ler of resolutions for arming and disciplining the militia of the 
( "olonies, and the delegates to the former Congress held in Phil- 
adelphia were re-elected, along with Thomas Jefferson, to. serve 
in the next Congress which met at Philadelphia in May, 1775. 

In the month of April, hostilities began between General Gage, 
commanding the British forces at Boston, and the troops of the 
Massachusetts Colony, and the first blood of the Bevolution was 
shed at Lexing-ton, Massachusetts, on the 17th day of April, 1775. 
In a few days this news spread, and the entire Colony was in arms. 
The first blow had been struck by the King's troops, and now the 
Colonies took up their arms in self-defence. 

In Virginia, Governor Dunmore, upon a plea that an insurrec- 
tion existed in a neighboring county, removed the powder stored in 
the public magazine at Williamsburg, and placed it on board of a 
ship by a small body of marines, on the 9th of April, 1775. This 
action of the Governor provoked a great deal of discontent, and, 
in answer to a request from the officials of the city of Williamsburg, 
he promised to restore the powder whenever wanted, but declined 
to do so at that time, for the reason that he had heard that the 
people were armed, and that he did not think it prudent to ])ui 
powder in their hands. 

This promise of the Governor did not satisfy the people, and, 
arming themselves, they began to assemble and march through ihe 
streets of Williamsburg, whereupon. Governor Dunmore sent them 
a message in wliich he stated that if they interfered with any of 
the King's officers he woul/1 declare freedom tO' their slaves and 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 205 

liiy Williamsburg in ashes. O'liis information being communicated 
to the surrounding counti-y and the news from Massachusetts hav- 
ing reached A^irginia, the people flew to arms in all directions. 
Patrick Henry placed no confidence in the promise of the GovernoT 
and resolved upon making an efl'ort to recover the powder. 

He organized a company in his own county, and, with this com- 
})any, l^egan his march to Williamsburg. Patrick Henry was very 
ix)pular with the people of the Colony and upon their hearing of his 
determination, fully five thousand men tendered him their services. 
The Governor was greatly alarmed by this occurrence and fled from 
the capitol and boarded a man-of-war. Apprehending the conse- 
(luences of this act of Patrick Henry's, he directed the Receiver- 
(Jeneral of the Colony to meet Mr. Henry and pay him in full for 
the ]>n\v(ler that had been carried ofi", which he did. Thereupon, 
Henry and his followers dispersed to their homes. Two days after 
this occurrence, the Governor proclaimed Patrick Henry an out- 
law. T"])on the 15th day of July, 1775, the Committee of Safety 
for Fincastle county assembled at the Lead Mines, and adopted the 
following resolutions in approbation of the course pursued by Pat- 
rick Henry, • I ] '^.' ] 

At a committee held for Fincastle County, July 15th, 1775, 
William Christian, chairman. The committee, taking into their 
consideration the clandestine removal of the gunpowder from the 
magazine of this Colony by order of our Governor, are clearly and 
unanimously of opinion that his Lordship's conduct reflects much 
dishonor on himself, and he very justly deserves the censure so 
universally bestowed upon him. 

Eesolved, That the spirited and meritorious conduct of Pat- 
]-ick Henry, Esq., and the rest of the gentlemen volunteers at- 
tending him on the occasion of the removal of the gunpowder 
out of the magazine in Williamsburg, veiy justly merits the very 
hearty approbation of this committee, for which we return them 
our thanks, with an assurance that we will, at the risk of our own 
lives and fortunes, support and justify them with regard to the 
reprisal they made.* 

Resolved, That the council of this Colony in advising and 
co-operating with Lord Dunmore in issuing the proclamation of 
the 3d of May last, charging the people of this Colony with an 



*Am€r. Arch., Vol. II., pp. 16-20, 16-21. 



20G Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

ungovernable spirit and licentious practices, is contrary to many 
known matters of fact, and but too justly sliows to us that those 
who ought to be mediators and guardians of our liberties are 
become the abject tools of a detested administration. 

Eesolved, That it is the opinion of this committee that the 
late sanguinary attempt and preparations of the King's troops, in 
the Colony of Narragansett Bay, are truly alarming and irritating, 
and loudly call upon all, oven the most distant and interiour parts 
of the Colonies, to prepare and be ready for the extreme event, by 
a fixed resolution and a firm and manly resolve to avert ministerial 
cruelty, in defence of our reasonable rights and liberties. 

A perusal of these resolutions clearly show the spirit that ani- 
mated the people of Pincastle county. The third Continental Con- 
gress assembled at Philadelphia on the 10th day of May, 1775, and 
elected the following officers : 

President, Peyton Randolph, Virginia; 

Secretary, Charles Thompson, of Pennsylvania. 

Among the first measures proposed and adopted by this Con- 
gress was one looking to the placing of the Colonies in a defensive 
position and, on the 7th day of June, 1775, the Congress passed 
a resolution fixing the 30th day of July, 1775, as a day to be 
observed by the twelve Colonies in humiliation, fasting and prayer. 
About this time. General Gage, commander of the British forces 
at Boston, issued a proclamation in the King's name, offering a 
pardon to all of the people who would lay down their arms, except 
John Hancock and Samuel Adams. 

At this time, Peyton Randolph, President of the Continental 
Congress, resigned his position as President of the Congress, and 
thereupon John Hancock was elected president — this election 
being in answer to General Gage's proclamation. On the 15th of 
June, 1775, the Continental Congress, by a unanimous vote, elected 
as Commander-in-Chief of all the continental forces George 
Washington, of Virginia, and elected the following Major-Gen- 
erals : Artemus Ward, Philip Schuyler and Charles Lee, and Ho- 
ratio Gates, as Adjutant-General. 

On the 17tli of June, 1775, the battle of Breed's Hill was 
fought, in which battle the British suffered a loss of eleven hundred 
men, of whom two hundred and twenty-six were killed, eighty-nine 
of the number officers. Ilie American loss was four hundred and 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 307 

fifty-three killed, wounded and missing. The Continental Con- 
gress, in this month, ordered tAvelve rifle companies to be raised 
in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and directed the issuing 
of two million dollars in continental currency, for the redemption 
of wliicli they pledged the property of the twelve Colonies. Gen- 
eral Washington, immediately upon the receipt of his commission, 
proceeded to Massachusetts, where he took charge of the continental 
troops, and, by the middle of August, the rifle companies ordered 
to be raised in Virginia, reached Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 
time to take part in the capture of Boston. 

While we have no documentary evidence of the fact, there can 
|je no doubt that a number of the riflemen from Fincastle county 
accompanied the troops from Virginia. In the meantime, on the 
6th day of July, 1775, the Congress of the United Colonies adopted 
a memorial setting forth the causes that led to, and the necessity 
of, their taking up arms. 

On the 24th day of Jul}'-, 1775, the Colonial Convention of Vir- 
ginia met at W^illiamsburg and appointed a Committee of Safety, 
and passed an act for the raising of two regiments to be placed 
under the command of Patrick Henry, who was made commander 
of all the forces raised and to be raised in defence of the Colony. 
The two regiments were speedily raised, and assembled at Wil- 
liamsburg. 

The Committee of Safety for Fincastle county, in answer to the 
resolutions of the Virginia Convention, immediately dispatched a 
company of choice riflemen from Fincastle county, under the com- 
mand of Captain William Campbell, this company being among the 
first to arrive at Williamsburg. 

On the 3d day of September of this year, a British ship-of-war 
was driven ashore near Hampton, Virginia, during a storm, and, 
on the morning of the 4th, the people set fire to and destroyed it. 
The captain of the ship threatened to burn the town and actually 
tried to do so, but the Virginia Committee of Safety dispatched 
Colonel Woodford, with three companies of riflemen, to the assist- 
ance of the people of Hampton. Of the three companies thus dis- 
patched, one was the company of Fincastle troops imder Captain 
William Campbell.* 

When the British captain began his attack upon the town he 



*Amer. Arch., Vol. — , p. 296. 



208 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

was so warml}' received by Colonel Woodford and his men, thai he 
took to flight after the loss of a number of men. Thus it will 
be seen that troops from Fincastle county took part in the first 
engagement of the Eevohitionai-y war, on Virginia soil, in wliieli 
blood was shed. Upon the receipt of this information. Lord Dun- 
more issued a proclamation, proclaiming freedom to all the slaves 
who would join his standard. He thus gathered a considerable 
number of volunteers, of whom four hundred were slaves. Colonel 
Woodford and his company returned to AVilliamsburg. Lord Dun- 
more with his forces began a series of depredations upon the people 
living along the sea-coast, and the Virginia Committee of Safety 
again dispatched Colonel Woodford at the head of eight hundred 
men to drive him from his position at the Great Bridge. Colonel 
Woodford had not been long in the vicinity of the Great Bridge, 
when Lord Dunmore dispatched Captain Leslie, with the regular 
troops and slaves, to attack the troops under Colonel Woodford, 
and, as the result of this attempt, every man of the British 
troops was killed, wounded or captured ; whereupon. Governor Dun- 
more and his troops went aboard their ships, leaving Colonel Wood- 
ford and the Colonial troops in complete control of the position 
formerly occupied by the Governor. 

The Colonial troops that assembled at Williamsburg formed 
two battalions, and the first battalion, to which the troops from 
Fincastle were attached, was officered as followed : 

Colonel, Patrick Henry. 

Lieutenant-Colonel, William Christian, of Fincastle county. 

Major, Frank Eppes. 

Ijord Dunmore, after his defeat at the Great Bridge, placed all 
his white followers on board the ships and left his negro allies 
to shift for themselves. After some time his provisions began to 
grow scarce, when he sent a request to the citizens of Norfolk for 
supplies, which request was denied, and on the 1st day of January, 
1776, he began to bombard the town of ISTorfolk, with four ships, 
and, under cover of the fire from these ships, a company of sailors 
landed and set fire to the town, which soon was a heap of ashes; 
an uncalled for act upon the part of the British forces. 

The British Parliament at its session in 177fi, passed an act pro- 
hibiting all trade and intercourse with the thirteen American 
Colonies, and, about the same time, the King of England nego- 



jSouthwest Virginia, 1746-1780. 309 

tiated treaties witli some of the petty princes of Germany for the 
use of a niiml)er of Hessian troops in the campaign against the 
American (*olonies. When information of this act of the British 
Parliament reached General Washing-ton, he decided to drive 
the British from Boston and proceeded to do so on the 2d of March, 
and, on the 4t]i day of March, General Thomas, with a detachment 
of the American troops, took charge of Dorchester Heights over- 
looking Boston harbor. In a few days thereafter, General Howe, 
with nine thousand British troops, evacuated Boston without a 
figlit, and General Washing-ton, at the head of the continental army, 
took possession on the 17th day of March, 1776. 

On the Gth day of May, 177(), the first constitutional conven- 
tion assembled in Virginia, at Williamsburg, pursuant to the direc- 
tions of the CVmmittee of Safety, under an ordinance of the con- 
vention of 1775, which directed that, in view of the fact that the 
usual meeting of the General Assembly in a constitutional way had 
been altogether ^obstructed, it had become indispensably necessary 
for the oppressed people of this country, at a crisis so alarming, 
to' adopt such other mode of consulting and providing for the gen- 
eral safety as may seem most conducive to that great end. The 
members of this convention were elected in the same manner in 
which tlie members of the House of Burgesses had been previously 
elected, and the representatives in this convention from Fincastle 
county, were: 

Arthur Campbell, 
William Eussell, 

both citizens of that part of Fincastle county afterwards included 
in the subsequently formed county of Washington. 

It is hard to understand, exce])t upon the idea that the people 
living upon the waters of the Holston and Clinch exceeded in 
number the people living on the waters of the New river in Fin- 
castle county, how both members of this Convention should have 
been residents of the western part of Fincastle county. 

Some may say that this was done by consent, but such was not 
the fact, for the elections in those days were as hotly contested 
as any held in more recent times. It is worthy to be remembered, 
that in these early days every freeholder was required to vote under 
the penalty of two hundred pounds of tobacco for a failure, and 
every freeholder was required to attend and vote on the day 



^iO Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

appointed, at the Lead Mines, the county seat of Fincastle county. 

The Virginia convention of 1776 was one of the most important 
conventions ever held in the State, whether we consider the char- 
acter of the memhers, or the work done by them. The Virginia 
Colony at this time was in open revolt, and Lord Dunmore, the 
Governor, was an exile from the State. 

The King by his proclamation had declared the citizens of the 
Colony rebels and enemies, and now the people by their representa- 
tives proceeded in an orderly manner to establish a government 
for themselves. 

The constitution and bill of rights adopted by this convention 
clearly defined the fundamental principles of all free government, 
and the Declaration of Independence, enunciated at this time, was, 
beyond question, the forerunner of the Great Declaration of Inde- 
pendence adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. 
The Bill of Eights adopted by this convention, is as follows : 

"1st. Whereas, George the Third, King of Great Britain 
and Ireland and Elector of Hanover, heretofore intrusted with the 
exercise of the kingly office in this government, hath endeavored 
to pervert the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, 
by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary 
for the publick good; 

By denying his governours permission to pass laws of imme- 
diate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 
for his assent, and, when so suspended, neglecting to attend to 
them for many years; 

By refusing to pass certain other laws, imless the persons to be 
benefitted by them would relinquish the inestimable right of repre- 
sentation in the legislatures; 

By dissolving legislative assem^blies repeatedly and continually, 
for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of 
the people; 

When dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of 
time, thereby leaving the political system without any legislative 
head; 

By endeavoring to prevent the population of our country, and, 
for that purpose, obstructing the laws for the naturalization of 
foreigners ; 



Southwest Virginia, 17JfG-1786. 211 

By keeping among us- in times of peace, standing armies and 
ships of war; 

By affecting to render the military independent of, and superior 
to the civil power; 

By combining with others to subject ns to a foreign jurisdiction, 
giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation ; 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent; 

For depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended of- 
fences ; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves 
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever ; 

By plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, 
and destroying the lives of our people ; 

By inciting insurrections of our fellow-subjects, with the al- 
lurements of forfeiture and confiscation; 

By prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us, those very 
negroes, whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he hath refused 
us permission to exclude by law ; 

By endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the 
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an un- 
distinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions of exist- 
ence ; 

By transporting, at this time, a large array of foreign raer- 
cenaries, to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny al- 
ready begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy 
the head of a civilized nation; 

By answering our repeated petitions for redress with a repeti- 
tion of injuries ; 

And, finally, by abandoning the helm of government, and de- 
claring us out of his allegiance and protection. 

By which several acts of misrule, the government of this coun- 
try, as formerly exercised under the Crown of Great Britain, is 
^^OTALT.Y DISSOLVED.* 

The result of this action by the Convention was the formation 



*9 Hen. Stat., page 112. 



212 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-17S6. 

of a stable and efficient government for the State, and the organi- 
zation of the militia of the commonwealth. 

This Constitution was proclaimed on the 29th day of June, 1776, 
on which day the Committee of Safety, designated by the con- 
vention of 1775, relinquished their authority, and Patrick Henry 
was elected the first Governor of the Commonwealth. At the same 
time the Privy Council, Treasurer, Attorney General, and the 
other state officers were elected by the convention. This conven- 
tion, by a resolution, adopted a design for a seal for the new com- 
monwealth. The design adopted was as follows: 

"To be engraved on the Great Seal, Virtus, the genius of the 
Commonwealth, dressed like an Amazon, resting on a spear with 
one hand and holding a sword with the other hand and treading 
on Tyranny, represented by a man prostrate, a crown, fallen from 
his head, a broken chain in his left hand and a scourge in his 
right. In the exergon the word "Virginia" over the head of Vir- 
tus, and underneath the words, "Sic semper tyrannis." On the 
reverse a groupe, Libertas, with her wand and pileus. On the other 
side of her Ceres, with the cornucopia in one hand and an ear of 
wheat in the other. On the other side Eternitas, with globe and 
phoenix. In the exergon these words : Deus Nobis Hsec Otia Fecit." 

This declaration of the Virginia convention is said to have been 
the first declaration of independence recorded in the world's his- 
tory. The American people, until this time, had not seriously con- 
templated a complete separation from England, but now that the 
British Parliament had refused to listen to their petition and was 
waging an active war against them, Eichard Henry Lee, a repre- 
sentative from Virginia in the Continental Congress at Phila- 
delphia, in the month of May, gave notice that on a day named 
he would move the Congress to adopt a Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 

Early in this same month the Continental Congress had adopted 
a resolution for the purpose of ascertaining the sentiment of the 
American colonies on the subject of the independence of America. 
The motion of Mr. Lee was postponed from day to day, until the 
first day of July, two days after the adoption of the Virginia Con- 
stitution and Bill of Eights, when the Continental Congress re- 
solved itself into a committee of the whole, and began the con- 
sideration of the report of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benja- 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 213 

min Franklin, Koger Sherman, and E. R. Livingston, the com- 
mittee who had been appointed on the 11th of June to prepare 
a Declaration of Independence. 

It is worthy of note that this committee, when appointed, 
agi-eed that each member should draw up a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence according to his own ideas, with the understanding that 
the one that best conformed to the wishes of the committee as a 
whole should be adopted as the report of the committee. It is 
stated that Mr. Jefferson's Declaration, being the first read, was 
unanimously adopted by the committee without debate, the other 
members refusing to submit their papers for consideration. 

The Continental Congress, after three days of heated discussion, 
adopted the report of the committee, which report has since been 
known as the Declaration of Independence, and is as follows : 

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for 
one people to dissolve the political bands Avhich have connected 
them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth 
the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and 
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of man- 
kind requires that they should declare the causes which impel 
them to such separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created 
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain un- 
alienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are 
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent 
of the governed, that whenever any form of government becO'mes 
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or 
abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its founda- 
tion on such principles and organizing its power in such form as 
to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. 
Prudence, indeed, would dictate that governments long established 
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accord- 
ingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed 
to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by 
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed; but when a 
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 
object, evinces a design to reduce them under al:)solute despotism. 



214 Southwest Virginia, 174^6-1786. 

it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and 
to provide new guards for their future security. 

Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such 
is now the necessity wliich constrains them to alter their former 
systems of government. The liistory of the present King of Great 
Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all hav- 
ing in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over 
these States. To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid 
world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and neces- 
sary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his 
assent should be obtained ; and when so suspended he has utterly 
neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of 
large districts of people, imless those people would relinquish the 
rights of representation in the legislature— a right inestimable to 
them and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, un- 
comfortable and distant from the depository of their public 
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, 
with manly firmness, his invasion of the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to 
cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapa- 
ble of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their 
exercise, the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the 
dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; 
for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreign- 
ers, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, 
and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his 
assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure 
of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-n86. 215 

swarms of officers, to harrass oiir people and eat out their sub- 
stance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies with- 
out the consent of our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the military independent of and su- 
perior to the civil power. 

He has combined with otliers to' subject us to a jurisdiction 
foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, 
giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation. 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, 

For protecting them by a mock trial, from punishment, for any 
murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these 
States, 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent, 

For depriving us in many cases of the benefit of trial by jury. 

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended 
offences, 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring 
Province, establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarg- 
ing its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit 
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these 
Colonies, 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our* most valuable laws 
and altering fundamentally the powers of our goivernments. 

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves 
invested with power to legislature for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his 
protection and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, 
and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mer- 
cenaries, to complete the work of death, desolation and tyranny, 
already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely 
paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy the 
head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the 
high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the execu- 



216 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

tioners of their friends and bretJiren, or to fall themselves by their 
hands. 

He has excited domestick insurrections amongst us, and has 
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merci- 
less Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistin- 
guished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress 
in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been 
answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is 
thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be 
the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. 
We have warned them from time to time, of attempts, made by their 
Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us; we 
have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and 
settlement here; we have appealed to their native justice and mag- 
nanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common 
kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably 
interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have 
been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must there- 
fore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, 
and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, 
in peace friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of 
America in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme 
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the 
name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, 
solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they 
are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that 
all political connections between them and the State of Great 
Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved ; and that, as free and 
independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude 
peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all other acts 
and things which independent States may of right do. And for 
the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protec- 
tion of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. 

It has been said that this Declaration of Independence was the 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 217 

most sublime exhibition that man has ever made to man. The 
members composing the Congress were, in their intelligence and 
patriotism, the giants of our race, and the object of that Congress 
was the protection of our race. 

This Declaration of Independence was proclaimed at Philadel- 
phia on the 8th day of July, 1776, and on the 9th it was read 
to each brigade of the Continental army. This declaration was 
received by the people at all points with the greatest enthusiasm. 

A part of the policy adopted by the British Ministry for the 
reduction of the American Colonies was the enlisting of the 
Indians in the service of the British Government. We have now 
reached that point where the history of Southwest Virginia is 
closely connected with the operations of the Indians in behalf of 
the British Government. Numerous agents of the Eoyal Govern- 
ment were sent to the different Indian tribes living along the 
waters of the western frontiers, and they were so fai successful in 
their efforts to incite the Indian tribes to war, that, by the spring 
of 1776, the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws were 
induced to take up arms in behalf of their British allies. The 
Cherokee Indians, who were the nearest and most accessible tribe 
to the white settlers, were more numerous than most of the other 
Indian tribes, and they were the first to take up arms at the instance 
of the Brifish agents. 

If the British government had any friends among the back- 
woodsmen of Fincastle county, this action was of such a character 
as to alienate the affection and respect of every respectable man. 
In speaking of the success of the British agents in this matter, 
a distinguished author has said : "Their success and the constant 
ravages of the Indians maddened the American frontiersmen upon 
whom the blow fell, and changed their resentment against the 
British king into a deadly and lasting hatred, which their sons and 
grandsons inherited. 

Indian warfare was ol such peculiar atrocity that the employ- 
ment of Indians as allies forbade any further hope of reconciliation. 
They saw their homes destroyed, their wives outraged, their chil- 
dren captured, their friends butchered and tortured wholesale by 
Indians armed with British weapons, bribed by British gold and 
obeying the orders of British agents and commanders,"* 



^Winning of the West, Part II., p. 76. 



218 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

About this time Colonel Arthur Campbell, of Pincastle county, 
in writing of this action of the British Government, in arming the 
Indian tribes, expressed himself as follows : "This infernal malig- 
nity of a professed Christian prince was reserved to be exhibited to 
the world in the reign of George III." 

Alexander Cameron, the British agent among the Cherokee 
Indians, lost no time in calling together the chiefs and warriors of 
this tribe of Indians, to inform them of the wishes of his govern- 
ment. When Cameron disclosed to the Indians his plans, they 
were greatly astonished, and would not, for some time, believe the 
statement of Cameron, that one part of the white people wished to 
wage war against their brothers, for a civil war was unknown 
between Indians speaking the same language, but he finally suc- 
ceeded in enlisting the Indians by promising them presents in 
clothing and by telling them that they could plunder and rob the 
settlers, and ])y inducing them to believe that all the lands on the 
western waters would be reserved to them by the British govern- 
ment as their hunting grounds. This tribe of Indians had been 
acting for some time in a manner that clearly indicated that they 
were determined upon hostilities. 

In the spring of 1775, Andrew Greer, had gone to the Cherokee 
towns to purchase furs. While there, he had observed the conduct 
of two white traders, and was convinced that they intended to do 
him some injury, if possible. When he started from the Indian 
towns for his home, he left the main trading path and came up the 
Nolichucky trace and escaped injury, but, at the same time, two 
men by the name of Boyd and Doggett, who had been sent to the 
Indian towns by the Virginia authorities, were met on the trace 
that Greer had left, at Boyd's creek, by Indians, and were killed 
by them and their bodies hidden. The Virginia settlement had 
long been at peace with the Indians, but they were sufficiently 
acquainted with their character to know, that, having once tasted 
blood, their disposition was to indulge to excess, and now they knew 
they must prepare for a long and bloody war with a tribe of Indians 
that exceeded them in numbers. They at once proceeded to put 
their frontier settlements in a defensive attitude. A fort was built 
at Watauga, to which was given the name of Fort Lee, the old fort* 
at Long Island was repaired and called Fort Patrick Henry. 



*Fort Robinson. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 319 

Another fort was erected about seven miles east from Long Island, 
at Amos Eaton's, on the trace leading to Fort Chiswell. A fort was 
erected shortly before this time at Rye Cove, about fifty miles from 
the North Fork of Clinch, by a man by the name of Isaac Crismen, 
who was, afterwards, with two nuembers of his family, murdered by 
the Indians. 

Information of the invasion intended by the Indians was for- 
warded to the Committee of Safety of Fincastle county by Isaac 
Thomas, an liidian trader, at the instance of Nancy Ward, a noted 
Indian woman and a relative of several of the principal chiefs. 
The frontier settlement, at this day, was in Carter's Valley, the 
settlers obtaining their supplies from the settlement at Wolf Hill 
(now Abingdon) . 

The action of the Virginia Committee of Safety, requiring a 
test oath of all the citizens of the Commonwealth, had driven many 
sympathizers of the British Government to this settlement in Car- 
ter's Valley, where they hoped to escape the consequences of their 
refusal to subscribe to the oath, but information of their presence 
was obtained by John Carter, a Virginian, who communicated the 
information he had obtained to the settlers near Wolf Hill. These 
settlers were great Whigs, and, upon receiving this information, a 
number of them assembled and went to Brown's settlement in Car- 
ter's Valley, and after having assembled the people, John Coulter, 
a member of the county court of this county, administered to them 
an oath to be faithful to the common cause. Early in May, the 
settlers in Carter's Valley and all the families below the North 
Fork- of the Holston, in view of the threatened Indian invasion, 
left their homes and returned to the settlements. To add to the 
alarm of the frontier settlers, a letter was delivered at the house 
of Charles Eobertson, on the 18th day of May, 1776, under circum- 
stances that were exceedingly suspicious; which letter accompanied 

by the affidavit of Nathan Reed, was as follows : "Wattaga 

This day, Nathan Reed came before me, one of the justices of Wat- 
taga, and made oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, 
that a stranger came up to Charles Robertson's gate yesterday even- 
ing — who he was he did not know — and delivered a letter of which 
this is a true copy. Sworn before me the 19th of May, 1776. 
Attest, James Smith. John Carter." 

"Gentlemen: — Some time ago, Mr. Cameron and myself wrote 



220 Southwest Virginia, llItG-nse. 

you a letter by Mr. Thomas, and enclosed a talk we had with the 
[ncliars respecting the purchase which is reported you lately m-^.do 
of rbem on the rivers Wattaga, Nolichueky. We are since informed 
that you are under great apprenhension of the Indians doing mis- 
cirief immediately. But it is not the desire of his Majesty to 5et 
bis friends and allies, the Indians, on his liege subjects: therefore 
whoever you are, that are willing to join his Majesty's forces as 
soon as they arrive at the Cherokee nation, by repairing to the 
King's standard, shall find protection for themselves and their 
families and be free from all danger whatever; yet, that his 
Majesty's officers may be certain which of you are willing tO' take 
up arms in his Majesty's just right, I have thought fit to recoui- 
mend it to you and every one that is desirous of preventing in- 
evitable ruin to themselves and families, immediately to subscribe 
a written paper acknowledging their allegiance to his Majesty 
King George, and that they are ready and willing, whenever called 
on, to appear in arms in defence of the British right in America ; 
which paper, as soon as it is signed and sent to me safe by hand, 
should any of the inhabitants be desirous of knowing how they are 
to be free from every kind of insult and danger, inform them that 
his Majesty will immediately land an army in West Florida, march 
them through the Creek to the Chickasaw nation, where five hun- 
dred warriors from each nation are to join them, and then come 
by Chota, who have promised their assistance, and then to take pos- 
session of the frontiers of North Carolina and Virginia, at the 
same time that his Majesty's forces make a diversion on the sea 
coast of those Provinces. If any of the inhabitants have any beef, 
cattle, flour, pork or horses to spare, they shall have a good price 
for them by applying to us, as soon as his Majesty's troops are em- 
bodied. I am yours, &c., 

"Henry Stuart."" 

Henry Stuart was the Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs 
for the British Government, and in this capacity he wrote this let- 
ter. Tbis letter did not accomplish its purpose, and only had the 
effect of exciting the settlers to more vigorous efforts to resist the 
plans of the agents of the British crown. On the 8th of June Jar- 
rett Williams, an Indian trader, returned to the Virginia settle- 
ment from the Cherokee towns and gave further information as to 
the intention of the Indians, which information was embodied in 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 221 

an affidavit given before Anthony Bledsoe, a justice of the peace of 
Fincastle county. The affidavit v?as as follows : 

"Fincastle, ss. — The deposition of Jarret Williams taken before 
me, Anthony Bledsoe, a justice of the peace for the county afore- 
said, being first sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, 
deposeth and saith : That he left the Cherokee nation on Monday 
night, the 8th inst. (July) ; 

"That the part of the nation called the Over-Hills were then 
preparing to go to war against the frontiers of Virginia, having 
purchased to the amount of 1,000 skins or thereabouts, for mocka- 
sons. They were also beating flour for a march, and making other 
warlike preparations. Their number, from calculation made by 
the Eaven Warrior, amounts to about six hundred warriors; and, 
according to the deponent's idea, he thinks we may expect a gen- 
eral attack any hour. They propose to take away negroes and 
horses, and to kill all kinds of sheep, cattle, »&c. ; also to de- 
stroy all corn, burn houses, &c. And he also heard that the 
Valley towns were, a part of them, set off; but that they had 
sent a runner to stop them till all were ready to start. He 
further relates that Alexander Cameron informed them tliat he 
had concluded to send Captain Nathaniel Guist, William Faulin, 
Isaac Williams and the deponent with the Indians, till they 
came near to Nolichucky, then the Indians were to stop and Guest 
and the other whites above mentioned were to go to see if there 
were any King's men among the inhabitants; and if they found 
any they were to take them off to the Indians or have a white sig- 
nal in their hands, or otherwise to distinguish them. When this 
was done they were to fall on the inhabitants and kill and drive 
all they possibly could. 

"That on Saturday, the 6th inst., in the night, he heard two 
prisoners were brought in about midnight, but the deponent saw 
only one. That the within Williams saw only one scalp brought 
by a party of Indians, with a prisoner; but, from accounts, they 
had five scalps. He also says he heard the prisoner examined by 
Cameron, thought he gave a very imperfect account, being very 
mucli cast down. He further says that the Cherokees had received 
the war-belt from the Shawnese, Mingo, Taawah and Delaware 
nations, to strike the white people. That fifteen of the said na- 
tions were in the Cherokee towns, and that few of the Cherokees 



222 Southivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

went in company with the Shawnese, &c. That they all intended 
to strike the settlers in Kentucky; and that the Cherokees gave 
the Shawnese four scalps of white men, which they had carried 
away with them. The said Shawnese and Mingoes informed the 
Cherokees that they were then at peace with every other nation; 
that the French were to supply them with ammunition, and that 
they wanted the Cherokees to join them to strike the white peo- 
ple on the frontiers, which the Cherokees have agreed to. 

"And the deponent further saith that, before he left the nation, 
a number of the Cherokees of the Lower Towns were gone to fall 
on the frontiers of South Carolina and Georgia; and further saith 
not. Jaerett Williams."' 

Signed before Anthony Bledsoe. 

The settlers on the waters of th.e Holston and Clinch were greatly 
aroused by the information received, and the militia was or- 
ganized and armed for the purpose of resisting the contemplated 
expedition planned by Cameron, the British agent. The reader 
must remember that all the settlements as low down as Carter's 
Valley, and including the settlement at Watauga, were governed 
by Virginia laws at this time, and expected and received protec- 
tion from the authorities of Fincastle county in Virginia. 

Upon the receipt of this information the Watauga committee 
sent an express to Colonel William Preston, the county lieutenant 
of Fincastle county, detailing to him their situation and requesting 
tlie assistance of the authorities and supplies of lead and powder. 
Colonel Preston replied to this letter on June 3d as follows : 

"Gentlemen, — Your letter of the 30th ult. with the deposition of 
Mr. Bryan, came to hand this evening by your messenger. The 
news is really alarming, with regard to the disposition of the In- 
dians, who are doubtless advised to break with the white people, 
by the enemies to American liberty who reside among them. But 
I cannot conceive that you have anything to fear from the pre- 
tended invasion by British troops, by the route they mention. 
This must, in my opinion, be a scheme purposely calculated to in- 
timidate the inhabitants, either to abandon their plantations or 
turn enemies to their country, neither of which I hope it will be 
able to effect. 

"Our Convention, on the 14th of May, ordered 500 pounds of gun- 
powder to each of the counties of Fincastle, Botetourt, Augusta, and 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 223 

West Augusta, , and double that quantity of 

lead They likewise ordered 100 men to be forthwith 

raised in Fincastle, to be stationed where our committee directs for 

the protection of the frontier I sent the several letters 

and depositions you furnished me, from which it is reasonable to 
believe that when all these shall have been examined vigorous meas- 
ures will be adopted for our protection. 

"I have already advertised our committee to meet at Fort Chis- 
well on Tuesday the 11th instant, and have directed the candidates 
for commissions in the new companies to exert themselves in engag- 
ing the number of men required until then. I much expect we shall 
have further news from Williamsburg by the time the committee 
meets. I have written toi Colonel Calloway the second time for 200 
pounds of lead, which I hope he will deliver the bearer. Tliis re- 
ply will, I hope, be some relief to your distressed settlement, and, as 
I said before, should more be wanted I am convinced you may be 
supplied. I am fully convinced that the expense will be repaid 
you by the Convention of Virginia or North Carolina on a fair rep- 
resentation of the case being laid before them, whichsoever of them 
takes your settlement under protection, as there is not the least 
reason that any one part of the colony should be at any extraor- 
dinary expense in the defence of the whole, and you may be as- 
sured you cannot be overstocked with that necessary article, for 
should it please Providence that the impending storm should blow 
over, and there would be no occasion to use the ammunition in the 
general defense, then it might be sold out to individuals, and the 
expense of the whole be reimbursed to those who so generously con- 
tributed towards the purchase. 

"I am, with the most sincere wishes for the safety of your settle- 
ment, your most obedient and very humble servant, 

"Wm. Preston." 

The information brought by Thomas to the settlement was to the 
effect that seven hundred warriors were to attack the white settle- 
ments in two divisions of three hundred and fifty each, led by 
Dragging Canoe and Oconostota. The one commanded by Ocono- 
stota was to attack the Watauga settlements, while the other, com- 
manded by Dragging Canoe, was to attack and break up the settle- 
ments between the North and South fork of the Holston river. 



224 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

Battle of Long Island Flats. 

Upon the receipt of this news a few of the militia hastily as- 
sembled and proceeded to Amos Eaton's, the frontier house, about 
fifteen miles in advance of the settlement, and began to build a 
kind of stockade fort with fence-rails, and after some time a 
breast-work was completed sulhcient to repel a considerable number. 
Thereupon expresses were sent to Thompson's Fort, now on the 
Huff farm, in the upper end of this county; to Edmiston's Fort, 
now near Lodi, Virginia; to Cocke's Fort, on Spring Creek; to 
Shelby's Fort, on Holston river, and to the settlements near Wolf 
Hills, and on the following morning about one hundred and seventy 
men reported at Eaton's Fort under the command of : 

James Thompson, James Shelby, 

William Buchanan, John Campbell, 

William Cocke, Thomas Madison, 

On the 19th day of July, 177G, the scouts returned to Eaton's 
Fort and reported that a great number of Indians were making 
into the settlements. 

Upon the receipt of this information it was debated as to the 
prudent course to pursue, to await the coming of the Indians in 
the fort OT to march out and meet them in the woods and fight them 
wherever they could be found. Capt. William Cocke argued that 
the Indians would not attack them in the fort, but would pass 
by and assail the settlements, killing and butchering and carrying 
off the property, and proposed to march out and meet the enemy. 
The proposition made by Captain Cocke prevailed, and the entire 
company, consisting of one himdred and seventy men, marched 
from the fort in the direction of Long Island, which was about 
seven miles distant. This company marched in two divisions, with 
flankers on each side and scouts before, and had proceeded not more 
than five miles when they discovered about twenty Indians meet- 
ing them, upon whom they fired. The Indians returned the fire, 
whereupon the white men rushed upon them and put them to flight. 
Ten bundles and a good deal of plunder were captured by the white 
men, and it was thought that some of the Indians were wounded. 
The ground where this skirmish took place was not very advantage- 
ous for a pursuit, and the men were with great difficulty restrained 
from pursuing the Indians. A council was held, and it was decided 



Southwest Virginia, 17 Jf 6-17 86. 225 

to return, as the officers had good reason to believe that a large 
party of Indians were not a great way off. They accordingly re- 
turned, and had not marched more than a mile when they heard a 
noise like distant thunder, and looking around they saw the whole 
Indian force running upon them at full speed, whereupon they 
made a hasty retreat to an eminence, where they rallied, and Cap- 
tain Thompson, the officer in command, ordered that the right line 
form for battle to the right and the left line to the left, and to face 
the enemy. 

In attempting to obey the orders of Captain Thompson, the head 
of the right line boTC too much along the road leading in the direc- 
tion of the station, and Lieutenant Eobert Davis, perceiving that 
the Indians were trying to outflank them, took a part of the line 
and formed them as quickly as possible on the right, across the flat 
to the ridge, preventing the Indians from accomplishing their pur- 
pose. The officers and many of the men exhibited in this battle a 
heroism almost unexampled. When the Indians began their attack, 
it was with great fury, those in front halloing, "The Unacas are run- 
ning. Come on and scalp them." The Indian attack was made 
upon the centre and tlie left flank of the whites at the same time, 
and as a result the troops were thrown into great confusion, and it 
was found almost impossible to form the troops in the face of the 
Indian attacks. Whereupon Capt. James Shelby, stepping to the 
front, ordered the several companies to go to the rear and reform 
their ranks, while he, accompanied by Lieut. Wm. Moore, Eobert 
Edmiston, John Morrison and John Findlay, kept the Indians at 
bay. 

Gilmore, in his "Rear Guard of the Revolution," makes the state- 
ment that Edmiston, in a hand-to-hand fight, slew three or four 
Indians, Morrison as many more, and that Moore became engaged 
in a desperate struggle with a herculean Indian chieftain, and, as 
if by general consent, the Indians paused to await its issue. This 
delay, no doubt, saved much loss of life among the one hundred and 
seventy. It lasted for some minutes, but ended by Moore sinking 
his tomahawk into the brain of the Indian. The whites, in the 
meantime, had formed their line of battle about a quarter of a mile 
long and began to pour a destructive fire into the Cherokees from 
cover whenever possible. The Indians, having witnessed the end 
of the conflict between Moore and their chieftain, made a rapid 



226 Southwest Virginia, llJf6-1786. 

advance upon Shelby and liis companions, who, about this time, 
began to fall back to their line. Whereupon the Indians made a 
furious asssault upon Eobert Edniiston, who held a position in the 
centre of the line, during which assault it was afterwards charged 
tliat Edmiston used profane language, upon which charge he was 
tried by the Ebbing Spring Presbyterian congregation. The en- 
gagement lasted from one-half to three-quarters of an hour, when 
the Indians disappeared as if by magic, leaving the white men 
masters of the situation. Thirteen dead Indians were found on the 
ground, and many more might have been found if search had been 
made for them, for many trails of blood were seen where the dead 
had been carried off or the wounded escaped. It is wonderful to 
record the fact that no white man was killed in this battle and only 
four slightly wounded. The names of the white men wounded in 
this battle are, so far as I can ascertain, Joshua Jones and John 
Findlay. 

We here give a report of this engagement made by the captains in 
command to Col. William Preston, the county lieutenant of Fin- 
castle county: 

"On the 19th our scouts returned and informed us that they had 
discovered where a great number of Indians were making into the 
settlements, upon which alarni the few men stationed at Eaton's 
completed a breast-work sufficiently strong, with the assistance of 
what men were there, to have repelled a considerable number ; sent 
expresses to the different stations and collected all the forces in 
one body, and the morning after about one hundred and seventy 
turned out in search of the enemy. We marched in two divisions, 
with flankers on each side and scouts before. Our scouts discov- 
ered upwards of twenty meeting us, and fired on them. They re- 
turned the fire, but our men rushed on them with such violence that 
they were obliged to make a precipitate retreat. We took ten bundles 
and a good deal of plunder, and had great reason to think some of 
them were wounded. This small skirmish happened on ground 
very disadvantageous for our men to pursue, though it was with 
the greatest difficulty our officers could restrain their men. A coun- 
cil was held, and it was thought advisable to return, as we imagined 
there was a large party not far off. We accordingly returned, and 
had not marched more than a mile when a number, not inferior to 
ours, attacked us in the rear. Our men sustained the attack with 



Soutliivest Virginia, 174G-17S0. 337 

great bravery aud intrepidity, immediately forming a line. The 
Indians endeavored to surround us, but were prevented by the un- 
common fortitude and vigilance of Capt. James Shelby, who took 
])ossession of an eminence that prevented their design. Our line of 
battle extended about a quarter of a mile. We killed about thir- 
teen on the spot, whom we found, and we have the greatest reason 
to believe that we could have found a great many more had we had 
time to search for them. There were streams of blood every way, 
and it was generally thought there was never so much execution 
done in so short a time on the frontiers. Never did troops fight with 
greater calnmess than ours did. The Indians attacked us with the 
greatest fury imaginable, and nuide the most vigorous efforts to sur- 
I'ound us. Our spies really deserve the greatest applause. We took 
a great deal of plunder and many guns, and had only four men 
greatly woimded. The rest of the troops are in high spirits and 
eager for another engagement. We have the greatest reason to be- 
lieve they are pouring in great numbers on us, and beg the assistance 
of our friends. 

"James Thompson, "John Campbell, 

"James Shelby, "William Cocke, 

"William Buchanan, "Thomas Madison." 

Several incidents are related as having taken place before and 
during this battle that we here give as they have been preserved, 
without vouching for the truth thereof. Benjamin Sharp, in a 
letter published in the American Pioneer, gives an incident as oc- 
curring during the battle. Ife says : "An Alexander Moore, a strong, 
athletic, active man, by some means, got into close contact with an 
Indian of nearly his own size and strength. My brother-in-law, Wil- 
liam King, seeing Moore's situation, ran up to his relief, but" the 
Indian adroitly kept Moore in such a position that King could not 
shoot him without hurting Moore. The Indian had a large knife 
suspended at his belt, for the possession of which they both struggled, 
but at length Moore succeeded and plunged it into the Indian's 
bowels. He then broke his hold and sprang off of Moore, and King 
shot liim through the head." 

Several historians make the statement that William Cocke, one 
of the captains upon this expedition, was charged with cowardice 
by a numjber of the militia immediately after a council of the 



228 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

officers, had decided to return to Fort Eaton instead of pursuing the 
twenty Indians first discovered, and that Captain Cocke, soon after 
the return march had begun for Eaton's Fort, halted the line and 
delivered a speech in defence of his reputation. We cannot imagine 
the reason why the charge should have been made, but from an ex- 
amination of the records of the Virginia Privy Council it appears 
tliat on December 9, 1776, the following order was entered: 

"It appearing from the deposition of Thomas Madison, Esq., 
that there are grounds to suspect Capt. William Cocke of cowardice 
in a late action with the Indians, it is therefore ordered that the 
said Captain Cocke be forthwith suspended; that the Governor be 
requested to write to the county lieutenant of Fincastle directing 
him to hold a court of inquiry touching the conduct of said Captain 
Cocke, and to transmit to this board a copy of the same." 

I cannot ascertaiii what disposition was made of this charge 
against Captain Cocke, but I am compelled to believe that he was 
acquitted, for he was afterwards elected to the General Assembly of 
^''irginia from Washington county, and in a few years thereafter 
became one of the first United States senators from the State of 
Tennessee. 

The result of this victory was not only the destruction of a num- 
ber of the Indian warriors and the wounding of their savage chief. 
Dragging Canoe, but it inspired the settlers with confidence in them- 
selves and a contempt of danger from the Indians. It is said that 
ever afterwards the inquiry among the white settlers when in search 
of the Indians was not "how many of them are there," but "where 
are they to be found ?" On the same day that the battle was fought 
at the Long Island Flats another body of Indians attacked Fort 
Lee at Watauga, in which fort were Capt. James Robertson and 
forty others. But the Indians were repulsed with some loss by the 
fire from the fort, but for three weeks skulked around the fort, 
during which time a man and a boy, who had ventured to leave the 
fort, were assailed by the Indians and captured, and the man scalped 
on the spot. The boy, who was a brother of Lieut. Wm. Moore, 
was reserved for a worse fate, he being afterwards burned at the 
stake by the Indians. Mrs. Wm. Bean, who lived on Boone's creek, 
was captured by the Indians, but was subsequently released through 
the influence of Nancy Ward. 

Colonel Eussell, who was located at Fort Patrick Henry, was 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 239 

ordered to go, with five companies of militia, to the relief of Port 
Lee, but he was so slow that Col. Evan Shelby raised a company of 
about one hundred men in the vicinity of Wolf Hills and proceeded 
to Watauga, where he found the inhabitants in their fort and the 
Indians gone. 

After the battle at Long Island Flats the Virginia militia re- 
turned to tlie fort and the men dispersed to their several homes to 
take care of their families and property. In the meantime all the 
frontier settlements were breaking up and the settlers fleeing from 
every quarter. The main road ox trace was crowded with people 
moving with the greatest haste to escape the invading Indians. At 
the farm of Capt. Joseph Black, where Abingdon now stands, be- 
tween four and five hundred people collected together to build a 
fort. 

The erection of Black's Fort was begun on the 20th day of July, 
1776, the same day that the battle of Long Island Flats was fought, 
and the news of the victory of the settlers in that battle was received 
the next day. Upon the receipt of this news all business was sus- 
pended, while the Eev. Charles Cummings offered up a prayer 
of thanksgiving, in which all the people heartily joined. The defeat 
of the Indians at the Long Island did not end the trouble of the 
settlers on the Holston. About the time that the battle was fought 
a party of Indians came up the Clinch river burning all the prop- 
erty and killing and scalping all the settlers that they could find. 
Dividing themselves into small bodies, they invaded the settlements 
from the lower end of what is now the present county of Sullivan, 
in Tennessee, to the Seven Mile Ford, in Virginia. About the 24th 
of July, 1776, Capt. James Montgomery, who had settled on the 
south fork of Holston river, about eight miles from Black's Fort, 
came to the fort, he and two other families having decided to defend 
their own homes. He came in quest of intelligence, and was 
earnestly besought by the people of the fort to bring in the families, 
to which he agreed, and men and horses were sent to assist him. 
This company soon returned to the fort with the families and some 
of their property, and went back to bring in the rest of the prop- 
erty when, to their surprise, they found the houses plundered and in 
flames. The company thereupon hastily retreated to the fort, and 
spies were sent out to locate the Indians if possible, but no dis- 
coveries were made for some days, when at length the spies came in 



230 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

one night and reported that tliey had discovered a fire on the bank 
of the river above Montgomery's which they supposed to be the 
Indian camp.* 

Upon receipt of this information an express was sent to Bryan's 
Fort requesting their men to meet the men from Black's Fort at a 
certain place that night. The two companies met according to 
agreement, and the spies conducted them to the spot where they 
had seen the fire, when the Indians were surrounded from the river 
below to the river abo've them, with strict injunctions to the men to 
preserve a profouiid silence till the report of the captain's gun 
should give the signal for a general discharge; and in this position 
they waited for daylight. At the dawn of day, when the Indians 
arose and began to stir about the camp, the crack of the captain's 
rifle was followed by a well-directed fire from every quarter. The 
Indians fled across the river, exposed all the way to the fire of tlie 
whites. Eleven Indians lay dead at and around the camp, and the 
number that fell and sank in the river is not known. The men 
crossed the river and found numerous trails of lilood, one of which 
they followed to where an Indian had crept into a hollow log, wJiom 
they drew oiit by his feet, and, according to his request, shot him in 
the head. As a result of this slaughter of Indians the settlers it 
Black's Fort were greatly rejoiced, and the eleven Indian scalps 
were attached to a long pole and fixed as a trophy over the fort 
gates. f Several days thereafter three companies prepared to go out 
from the fort to visit their plantations and on other missions. The 
first company to leave the fort was composed of John Sharp, his t\rA 
sons, and two sons-in-law. They went early and were unmolested. 
The second company to leave the fort on that day was composed of 
Arthur Blackburn, William Casey and his sister Xancy, who was 
about sixteen years of age, Eobert Harold and several others, and 
about the same time a third company left the fort tO' visit the hou.-e 
of Eev. Charles Cummings to bring his books and some of his prop- 
erty into the fort. Both of these parties were attacked l)y the 
Indians at the same time within hearing of the fort, where an inde- 
scribable scene of disorder took place, the women and children 
screaming, wives clinging to their husbands, mothers to their sons 



*This camp was on the Maliaflfey farm. 

tBenj. Sharp letter, published in American Pioneer. He was an occupant 
of the fort at the time. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 231 

and sisters to their brothers, to prevent them from going out of the 
fort. 

However, a number of them left the fort and ran to the rescue 
of the companies as fast as possible, but before they arrived upon 
the scene the Indians had done their work and gone. Of the second 
company to leave the fort Artliur Blackburn was shot, tomahawked, 
and scalped, but was found alive, brought in, and recovered from 
liis wounds. Along with this same company was William Casey 
and his sister Nancy, a beautiful little girl about sixteen years of 
age. As Casey was running for his life to the fort he discovered 
the Indians in hot pursuit of his sister, and seeing Jlobert Harold, 
another young man, close by, he called tO' him to come and help him 
save Nancy. Harold obeyed, and, although there were from four 
to seven Indians in pursuit, these young men rushed between them 
and the girl, and by dexterously managing to fire alternately, still 
keeping one gun loaded when tlie other was discliarged, they kept 
the Indians at bay till they gave up the piirsuit and the girl was 
brought in safe. The author of this account says, "Such acts of gen- 
erous bravery ought at all times be held as examples to our youth." 

The third company was composed of the Eev. Charles Cum- 
mings, his servant Job, William Creswell, the driver, James Piper 
and one other; and when they had reached a point called Piper's 
Hill, they were attacked by a band of Indians, and at the first fire 
William Creswell, who had taken part in the battle of Ijong Island 
Flats, was killed and two of tlie other men were wounded, James 
Piper having his finger shot off, but the Eev. Charles Cummings, 
with the remaining man, and his servant Job, held the Indians 
at bay until he obtained help from Black's Fort, when he brought 
off the wounded men in safety. William Creswell was buried near 
the Presbyterian church, now Sinking Spring Cemetery, where his 
grave may be seen at this day marked by a rude tombstone. An 
exact reproduction of the inscription thereon is here given : 

William Creswell 
entered this place 

July, 1776. 

It has been stated that this is the oldest known grave in this sec- 
tion, but such is not the fact. Poston's graveyard is situated on a 
high knob in close proximity to the falls of the north fork of Holston 



232 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

river, in this county, and in the graveyard is found a grave marked 
by a limestone rock upon which is inscribed, "Mary Boyd, died Feby. 
17, 1773, aged 3 years. Alexander Boyd's child." Tradition says 
that this death occurred by the capsizing of Boyd's boat in passing 
over the falls, Boyd at the time emigrating to the extreme frontiers. 
From the period that Mr. Cummings commenced preaching in 
the Holston settlements up to the time of this attack the men never 
went to church without being armed and taking their families with 
them. On Sabbath morning during most of this period it was the 
custom of Mr. Cummings to dress himself neatly, put on his shot 
pouch, shoulder* his rifle, mount his horse and ride off to church, 
where he met his gallant and intelligent congregation, each man 
with his rifle in his hand. The minister would then enter the 
church, walk gravely through the crowd, ascend the pulpit, deposit 
his rifle in a corner of it, lay off his shot pouch, and commence the 
solemn services of the day.* 

The Rev. Charles Cummings was what would be termed in 
our day " a fighting pai-son." Immediately after the occurrence 
above stated Mr. Cummings and about one hundred of his parishion- 
ers, under the command of Evan Shelby, hurried to the relief of 
the Watauga settlers who were besieged by the Indians in Fort Lee, 
and he accompanied Col. William Christian on his expedition against 
the Cherokee Indians in the fall of this year, preaching at different 
points in East Tennessee to settlers and soldiers whenever the oppor- 
tunity offered itself, he being the first minister of the gospel to de- 
liver the message of peace in the boundaries of the present State 
of Tennessee. In the year 1776 the ground now occupied by Martha 
Washington College and Stonewall Jackson Institute was a dense 
chinquapin thicket, and the lands between the thicket and Black's 
Fort were cultivated in flax. During the summer of the year 
177C two men and three women were pulling flax near the fort 
with Frederick Mongle stationed as sentinel to give tlie alarm 
should the Indians make their appearance. The Indians, who had 
hidden themselves in the bushes above referred to, quietly ap- 
proached and wounded and scalped Mr. Mongle, but the other 
persons reached the fort in safety by dodging from tree to tree. 
The men from the fort came at once to the rescue, and, attacking 



Governor David Campbell's MSS. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-nS6. 233 

the Indians, drove them off, Mr. Mongle soon died from his 
wounds, and his relatives claim that his grave, and not William 
Creswell's, was the first made in Sinking Spring Cemetery. But 
this contention cannot be correct, for Mongle was not killed until 
several weeks after the death of William Creswell. 

During the summer several murders were committed by the 
Indians. Two men, who had gone out to bring up their horses, 
were killed almost in sight of a neighboring fort, and of the two men 
Avho went with an express from Fort Black one was killed and the 
other made his escape. 

As a result of the trouble with the Indians Col. Wm. Chris- 
tian, Capt. Wm. Campbell, and Capt. Wm. Eussell returned to 
their homes from the regular continental army to assist in the 
defence of their homes from the combined attacks of the British 
and Indians. The Governor of Virginia at this time directed Col. 
Wm. Fleming, of Botetourt county, to dispatch a body of the 
militia of that county to the frontiers of Fincastle county for the 
protection of the inhabitants, and pursuant to this order Capt. 
Thomas Eowland was dispatched with his company to the fron- 
tiers. The following is a complete list of Captain Rowland's com- 
pany : 

Capt. Thomas Rowland, William Kyles, 

Henry Cartmill, Martin McFattin, 

Martin Baker, James Esprey, 

John Wood, Samuel McFarrin, 

Thomas Bowyer, George Rutledge, 

James Leatherdale, William Calbert, 

John Crawford, Edward Carbin, 

David Wallace, , Samuel M'Eoberts, 

James Bryant, Thomas Peage, 

William Bryant, Stephen Ilolston, 

Robert Feely, William Henry, 

Elijah Vinsant, George Givens, 

John Moor, James Cloyd, 

Thomas Eagnew, Isaac Lawrence, 

Isaac Richardson, William Wills, 

James Nicholas, James McQuown, 

William Crawford, James Robinson, 



234 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

James Alcorn, William Eichey, 

George Hutchinson Joseph Kyles, 

(Botetourt parish), Samuel McChire, 

Rev. Adam Smyth, pastor, Patrick Lockhart, 

William Astin, John Mills, 

William Leatherdale, Henry Smith, 

Robert Woods, James Gaunt, 

Edward Guilford, Joseph Carrol, 

Joseph Bryant, John Jones, 

William McFarrin, Henry Walker, 

Jacob Kimberland, John Burks, 

Robert Birdswell, 1'homas Arbuclcle, 

Thomas Howell, David Lawrence, 

Samuel Blair, Patrick Lawrence, 

David Harbinson, John Frager, 

Jonathan Wood, William Ross, 
Joseph Titus, 

This expedition accomplished nothing of value. This muster 
roll is given as a matter of information to the many descendants 
of these men who are now living in this county. 

In the year 1776, at the time of the battle of Long Island Flats, 
a man by the name of Lewis, with his wife and seven children, 
lived in the bounds of the present county of Scott. He was 
informed by Captain John Redd, that the Indians had declared war 
and were on the warpath, and was advised to move into the settle- 
ments, but he swore that he was in no danger, the Indians would 
never find him, but, soon thereafter, the Indians visited his home 
and killed and scalped Lewis, his wife and seven children. Among 
the extreme settlers who left their homes and returned to the set- 
tlements, was a man by the name of Ambrose Fletcher, whose fam- 
ily consisted of himself, his wife and two children. Fletcher had 
settled at Martin's Fort in Powell's Valley, and fled from, that 
point to Blackmore's Fort, on Cove creek, now in Scott county, 
Virginia. He and his family remained in Blackmore's Fort for 
a few days, when, the fort becoming very much crowded, Fletcher 
built a small cabin, about thirty or forty yards back of the fort, 
and moved into it. Shortly afterwards, Fletcher left his home to 
go to a canebrake to get his hoTse, and, on returning, he found his 
wife and two children tomahawked and scalped. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 235 

At this time the following forts were to be found on the waters 
of the Holston and Clinch, sO' far as I can ascertain : 

Thompson's Fort, located on the farm now owned by Huff Bros. 

Edmiston's Fort, located on Snodgrass's farm at Lodi, Va. 

Bryan's Fort, located at Ivendrick's Mill. 

Black's Fort, located at Abingdon, Virginia. 

Cocke's Fort, located on Clyce Farm on Spring creek. 

Bledsoe's Fort, located . 

Shelby's Fort, located Bristol. 

Eaton's Fort, located seven miles east of Long Island. 

Fort Patrick Henry, located at Long Island. 

Fort Le«, located, at Watauga. 

Gillespie's Fort, located . 

Womack's Fort, located, near Bluff City, Tennessee. 

Martin's Fort, located in Powell's Valley. 

Priest's Fort, located in Powell's Valley. 

Mumps' Fort, located in Powell's Valley. 

Eye Cove Fort, located . 

Blackmore's Fort, located Cove creek. 

Glade Hollow Fort, located in Eussell county. 

Hamlin's Fort, located near Castle's Woods. 

Elk Garden Fort, located Eussell county. 

Fort Bowen, located at Maiden Spring. 

Wynne's Fort, located Tazewell county, Wynne's branch. 

Crab Orchard Fort, located Tazewell county. 

At the same time that the Virginia settlements were suffering 
from the invasion of the Indians, North Carolina, South Carolina 
and Georgia, were experiencing like invasions. These four fron- 
tier colonies decided to invade the Indian country and bring 
them to their senses, by destroying their towns and chastising their 
warriors. The Cherokee Indians occupied that vast country north 
of the upper settlements in Georgia and west of the settlements in 
North and South Carolina and Southwest Virginia. Their coun- 
try was divided into three sections, and the number of the warriors 
in each was as follows: 

Middle Settlements and Valleys 878 

In Lower Towns 356 

In Over-Hill Towns 757 

Total 1,991 



236 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

The Georgia militia, under the command of Colonel McBury and 
Major Jack, invaded the Indian settlements on the Tugalo river, 
routed the Indians and destroyed all their towns. The militia of 
South Carolina, being about 1150 men, under the command of 
General Williamson, in the early days of August, marched into 
the Indian settlements and met and defeated, at Oconoree, Alex- 
ander Cameron, who was in command of a large body of Indians 
and white men. They burned a number of Indian towns and 
returned to their homes. The militia of the State of North Caro- 
lina, numbering abo'Ut 2,000 men, under the command of General 
Kutherford, marched into the middle settlements and valleys, 
about the same time. Upon the approach of this army, the Indians 
fled. Their towns were burned, to the number of thirty or forty, 
and these troops returned to North Carolina. While the troops of 
the States of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were 
invading the middle settlements and lower tovms of the Cherokees, 
the Virginia authorities were making every preparation to invade 
the over-hill towns. 

On the 22d of July, 1776, the Virginia Council received a letter 
from President Eutledge, of South Carolina, informing them that 
hostilities had been commenced by the Cherokee Indians, and that 
Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina had agreed to set 
on foot an expedition against the lower towns and middle settle- 
ments at once, and requesting the cooperation of Virginia, askin*^ 
that she carry war into the upper or over-hill towns. Thereupon, 
the council directed Colonel Charles Lewis to march immediately, 
with his battalion of minute men, to the frontiers. Upon the 
receipt of this order Colonel Lewis immediately marched his bat- 
talion of troops to the vicinity of New river in Fincastle county, 
where it was ascertained that a number of his men were unfit for 
an Indian expedition; whereupon, he was directed to discharge all 
such and to recruit others in their stead. 

On the first day of August, 177G, the Virginia Council ordered 
that a commission issue appointing William Christian, Esq., colonel 
of the first battalion and commander-in-chief of all the forces 
raised for use in the expedition against the Cherokee Indians. It 
was decided to send two battalions of troops upon this expedition, 
which were officered as follows: 

Commander-in-chief, William Christian. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



237 



Colonel, first battalion, William Christian. 
Major, first battalion, Evan Shelby. 
Surgeon, first battalion, Joseph Starke. 
Colonel, second battalion, Charles Lewis. 
Surgeon, second battalion, (Joorge ITart. 

Captain James Thompson and his company formed the life 
guard of Colonel Christian, the cominander-in-chief, upon this 
expedition. 

The following captains, with their companies, accompanied thio 

exj)edition against tlie (Jherokee Indians, so far as 1 can ascertain: 



Captain John Campbell, 
Captain William Eussell, 
Captain Eohert Boggs, 
Captain John Sevier, 
Captain James Thompson, 
Captain Isaac Bledsoe, 
Captain John Montgomery, 



Captain Daniel Smith, 
Captain Aaron Lewis, 
Captain Jacob Womack, 
Captain William Cocke, 
Captain Benjamin Gray, 
Captain William Preston, 
Captain Thomas Madison. 



Captain Thomas Madison was appointed commissary and pay- 
master upon this expedition. 

But little is known of the participants in this expedition. I have, 
therefore, gathered the names of the privates who took part in this 
expedition, as far as I can obtain them. Their names are as 
follows : 



Robert, Campbell, 
Thomas Hobbs, wounded. 
Thomas Berry, wounded. 
Christopher Watson, 
Matthew Allison, 
John Finley, 
Andrew Wallace, 
Humphrey Higgins, 
James Sawyers, 
William Crawford, 
James Buford, 
Joshua Eenfro, 
William Hogart, 
Ephraim Dunlap, 



Michael Ocheltree, 
Benjamin Thomas, 
John Wood, 
Eobert Finley, 
William WiUs, 
Jacob Gardner, 
Samuel Ewing, 
George Caldwell, 
Jacob Early, 
James Berry, 
Henley Moore, 
Jacob Anderson, 
John Adair, 
James Robinson, 



338 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



William Hicks, 

David Getgood, 

Sanmel Gay, 

Isaac Eiddle, 

David Smith, 

Edward Eoss, 

Gideon Farris, 

Jesse Womack, 

John Furnliam, 

William Frogg, 

William Milum, 

Lance Woodward, 

Francis Katherine, 

Daniel Henderson, 

Amos Eaton, 

David Eonnceval, 

Samuel Douglas, woomded; 

Duncan, killed; 

George Berry, wounded; 
John Eeburn, 

Abraham Crabtree, 

David McKenzie, 

Christopher Irwin, 

John Cochran, 

James Young, 

William Meade, 

David Wallace, 

Stephen Holston, 

Patrick Murphy, 

Isbon Talbert, 

James Campbell, 

Matthew Scott, 

Thomas Logwood, 

Eobert Preston, 

Eobert Campbell, 

Jacob Cogor, 

Daniel Kidd, 

Jolm Goff, 

Cuthbert Jones, 



Samuel Campbell, 
William Markland, 
Joseph McCormick, 
James McCockle, 
Joseph Eussell, 
Jonathan Martin, 
Gideon Morris, 
William Ingram, 
Eobert Stewart, 
James Berry, 
Daniel Smith, 
William Haynes, 
John McClanahan, 
John Phelps, 
Abraham McClanahan, 
James Arnold, / 

Hanrist Carlock, v 
Andrew Little, 
Thomas Berry, 
John Latham, 
William Eamsay, 
James Bradley, 
Ijambert Lane, 
John Eice, 
Joab Springer, 
Onsbey Carney, 
John Crane, 
Benjamin Drake, 
Benjamin Eice, 
David Irwin, 
George Miller, 
'^rhomas Eamsay, 
Thomas Fowler, 
Thomas Smith, 
George Coon, 
William Eice, 
Isaac Eounceval, 
James M'Farland, 
William Eoss, 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



339 



Philip Love, 
David English, 
James Tiittle, 
Meredy Eeins, 
Michael G leaves. 
Christian Shultz, 
Samuel Ingram, 
James Newell, 
William Bennett, 
Tjittleton Brooks, 
Michael Eowland, 
William Mitchell, 
William Rice, 
Philip Williams, 
James Harris, 
Arthur Onsbey, 
William Nettles, 
John Harris, Jr., 
William Lane, 
David Hunter, 
Michael Ohair, 
John Walker, 
Ebenezer Meads, 
Samuel Campbell, 
Francis Hamilton, 
James Daugherty, 
Frederick Fraily, 
William Edmiston, 
David Carson, 
James M'Cain, 
James Steel, 
Pobert. Gambell, 
Daniel M'Cormack, 
Jonathan Jennings, 
George Parker, 
William Peoples, 
Valentine Little, 
Samuel Fair, 
Alexander Butler, 



William Brown, 
Ijeonard Helm, 
James Greer, 
Samuel Ewin, 
Eichard Tlwrnas, 
Eobert Stephenson, 
Eobert M'Elheney, 
Isaac Thomas, 
John Craig, 
Adam Brausteter, 
Michael Dougherty, 
James M'Carthy, 
William Henson, 
Charles Eice, 
Jesse Henson, 
Jonathan Mulhey, 
Moses Winters, 
John Harris, Sr., 
James Beets, 
John M'Farland, 
Nicholas Edwards, 
James Kelley, 
James Eichardson, 
James Hamilton, 
George Newland, 
James Williams, 
Henry Whitner, 
Henry Eichardson, 
John Muldrough, 
Michael Francisco, 
James Mason, 
Solomon Kendrick, 
William White, 
Charles Cocke, 
John Craig, 
Eobert McNutt, 
Jacob Stearns, 
John Simpson, 
Thomas Price, 



240 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



Peter Haff, 
Henry Eice, 
William Lane, 
Philip Mulhey, Sr., 
Ijewis Crane, 
Isaac Lindsay, 
Samuel Martin, 
James M'Clern, 
James Smith, 
Lewis Whitner, 
William Calvert, 
Samuel Eason, 
James M'Donald, 
Samuel Montgomery, 
William Carr, 
John Gibson, 
James Walker, 
Philip Mulhey, Jr., 
. Andrew Cowan, 
John Adair, 
James Cameron, 



George Scott, 
Joseph Perrin 
Nicholas Edwards, 
John Hounshel, 
Adam Brausteter, 
James Doran, 
George Caldwell, 
Jeremiah Push, 
Robert Hardwicke, 
Joseph M'Reynolds, 
Benjauiin Logan, 
Robert Cowden, 
Andrew Irwin, 
John Gordon, 
Thomas Goldsby, 
Peter Turney, 
Anthony Bledsoe, 
John Walker, 
Evan Williams, 
Edward Piggett, 
Jacob Vance. 



On the 26th day of July, 1776, the Honorable Cornelius Har- 
nett, president of the Council of Safety of North Carolina, informed 
the Virginia Council that the Cherokees entertained the design of 
cutting off the persons employed at the Lead Mines, whereupon, the 
Council ordered William Preston, the county lieutenant of Fincastlc 
county, to raise, at once, a stockade fort for the defence of said 
mines and to garrison the same with a foTce of twenty-five men. 

On the first day of August, 1776, the Virginia Council gave the 
following instructions to William Christian, commander-in-chief, 
and Colonel Charles Lewis, in command of the second battalion, 
of the forces in the expedition against the Cherokees. 

"When your battalion and the battalion under Colonel Charles 
Lewis are completed, you are to march with them and the forces 
under the command of Colonel Russell, and such others as may joiu 
you from Carolina, into the Cherokee country, if these forces shall 
be judged sufficient for the purpose of severely chastising that crue) 
and perfidious nation, which you are to do in a manner most likely 
to put a stop to future insults and ravages and that may redound 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 241 

most to the honor of American arms. If the Indians should be 
reduced to the necessity of suing for peace, you must take care to 
demand of thein a sufficient number of their chiefs and warriors as 
hostages, for the performance of the conditions you may require of 
them. You must insist on their delivering up all prisoners who 
may choose to leave them and on their giving up to justice all per- 
sons amongst them who have been concerned in bringing on the 
present war, particularly Stuart, Cameron and Gist, and all others 
whO' have committed murder or robberies on our frontiers. You 
may require any other terms which the situation of affairs may 
point out and you may judge necessary for the safety and honor of 
the Commonwealth. You must endeavor to communicate with the 
commanding officer of the Carolina forces and cooperate with him, 
making the attack as near the time of his as may be. 

You are from time to time to write His Excellency the Governor, 
giving him a full account of your operations, and requiring his 
further instructions. Instructions to Colonel Charles Lewis of the 
second battalion of minute men: You are to order the captains 
under your command to march their companies to their respective 
counties, then to discharge such of their men as are not properly 
qualified to serve on an expedition against the Indians, and to raise 
with all possible dispatch in their stead the best recruits that can 
be found for the service, and, having so completed their companies, 
to repair to the Big Island on Holston river in Fincastle county, the 
place of general rendezvous." 

And, on the Gth day of August, 1776, the Virginia Council 
directed the keeper of the magazine to forward to Colonel William 
Christian 1,000 poimds of powder, two flints to be used on this 
expedition. 

It required some time to organize and equip the forces intended 
to proceed against the Cherokee Indians, which work was carried 
on with the greatest possible expedition, until the first week in Sep- 
tember. 

FINCASTLE COUNTY ORGANIZED UNDER THE STATE 
CONSTITUTION. 

The first county court of Fincastle county, under the Constitution 
of the Commonwealth of Virginia, assembled at the Lead Mines, 
(now in Wythe county), on September 3, 1776, at which time the 



242 Southwest Virginia, 17 46-17 S6. 

following members of the county court and officers of Fincastle 
county qualified by taking the oath prescribed by an ordinance of 
the Virginia Convention, which oath was administered by James 
McGavock and Arthur Campbell, 

MEMBEES OF THE COUNTY COUET: 

William Preston, Arthur Campbell, 

James McGavock, John Montgomery, 

James IVIcCorkle. 

Sheriff, William l*reston, appointed by the court. 

Deputy Sheriff, William Sayers, 

Deputy Clerk, Stephen Trigg, 

County-Lieutenant, William Preston. 

Attorney-at-Law, Harry Innes. 

But little business of importance was transacted at this term of 
the court, so far as the records that have been preserved show. 

Thus began the first organized government under the Constitu- 
tion of Virginia, in Fincastle county. 

In the month of September, 177G, that portion of the troops under 
the command of Colonel William Eussell began their march to the 
Great Island of the Holston, at which time Anthony Bledsoe entered 
two wagons in the public service, to convey the baggage and pro- 
vision of the troops. This circumstance is mentioned, for the rea- 
son that this was the first time, as far as can be ascertained, that 
a wagon was taken by tlie white man, as low down as the Long 
Island in Holston. 

When Colonel Eussell reached the Long Island, he thought it 
necessary to erect a fort in a field on the land of John Latham, on 
Long Island, which fort was speedily erected and every preparation 
made for the coming of the troops under command of Colonel Chris- 
tian. A company of militia was enrolled at Black's Fort (now 
Abingdon), and taken into the pay of the government, to guard 
the new fort, called Fort Patrick Henry, at Long Island, and to 
guard the provision and baggage wagons going to and returning 
from that fort. By the first day of October, Colonel Christian, with 
his entire army of 2,000 men, including about 400 men from North 
Carolina under command of Colonel Joseph Williams, Colonel Love 
and Major Winston, arrived at Long Island. When the army had 
proceeded about six miles beyond Long Island, Colonel Christian 



Southwest Vircjinia, 17JtG-17S6. 243 

lialted his army and offered a reward of one hundred pounds to 
any person or persons who would proceed to the Cherokee towns and 
l>ring liini a prisoner^ in order to obtain intelligence of the motions 
of the enemy; whereupon, Samuel Ewing, John, Blankenship and 
James McCall undertook the business, and in a few days entered 
the town of Toquo, after crossing the Tennessee river, where they 
met an Indian man on horseback, whom they permitted to escape, 
lest it might occasion a discovery. They next visited the house of a 
king's man by the name of Lowry, where they were refused admit- 
tance. They then proceeded to the house of one Davis, from whom 
they obtained intelligence of the designs of the enemy, when they 
returned to the army and gave a true account of the situation of 
affairs in the Indian country, according to their information, and 
they were paid by the General_ Assembly of Virginia the one hun- 
dred pounds, pursuant to the agreement of Colonel Christian. 

Upon the receipt of this information, Colonel Christian and his 
army proceeded, in a very cautious manner, on their march to the 
Tennessee, always encamping, at night, behind breastworks, to pre- 
vent a surprise. 

Colonel John Sevier commanded, upon this expedition, a com- 
]:)any of horse, the rest of the army being infantry. Sixteen spies 
were sent in advance of the army to the crossing of the French 
Broad river, a ])()int where the Indians said the white men should 
never cross. After being several days out,* Alexander Harlin came 
into camp and told Colonel Christian that 3,000 Indian warriors 
were awaiting his arrival at the crossing of the French Broad. Col- 
onel Christian permitted him to go through the camp and to observe 
the strength of his army, when he was dismissed by Colonel Chris- 
tian, with direction to inform the Indians of his determination to 
cross, not only the French Broad, but the Tennessee river, before he 
returned. The army continued its march through the wilderness, 
under direction of Isaac Thomas, the noted Indian trader and friend 
of Nancy Ward, as pilot. When they approached the crossing of 
the French Broad river, a king's man by the name of Fallin 
approached the camp with a flag of truce, to which Colonel Christian 
paid no attention, ]iermitting Fallin to pass through the camp unmo- 
lested, that ho might observe the strength of Christian's army. It is 
said that the Indians had gathered on the opposite side of this cross- 
ing determined to defend its passage to the last extremity, when a 



244 Southruest Virginia, 17J,S-1786. 

white man by the name of Starr, in the absence of Fallin, persuaded 
the Indians that it was folly to resist the invasion of the whites. 
In an earnest harangne, he told them it was folly to contend with 
the white man. That the Great Spirit intended he should over- 
run and occupy all the low lands which should be cultivated. To 
the red man he had given the hills and forests, where he might sub- 
sist on game without tilling the soil, wliich was work fit only for 
women. To struggle with the white man was, therefore, to fight 
with destiny. The only safety for the Indians lay in a speedy retreat 
to their mounta,in fastnesses."* 

From some cause the Indians disbanded and dispersed without 
offering any resistance to the white men. Colonel Chiistian and 
his army crossed the river and pressed rapidly forward to the Chero- 
kee towns along the Little Tennessee and Telico, every one of which 
w^as destroyed, except Chota, the home of Nancy Ward, the beloved 
woman of the Indian tribe and the friend of the white man; and 
Colonel Christian destroyed all grain, cattle and other provisions 
found in the nation. When Colonel Christian had destroyed the 
towns and property of the Indians and had chastised them as far 
as it was possible to do so, he sent out a number of men with flags 
of truce, and requested a talk with the Chiefs. A number of them 
came in immediately and proposed peace. Colonel Christian told 
them he was willing to grant them peace, but not until the tribe was 
fully represented, and, thereupon, Colonel Christian fixed a day for 
the concluding of peace in the following May, at Long Island in 
Holston river, and, in the meantime, hostilities were to cease except 
as to two towns on the Tennessee river, where young Moore, who 
had been captured at Watauga, had been burned at the stake; which 
proposition was accepted. Colonel John Sevier, thereupon, visited 
tlie towns in question and left the same in ashes. 

Colonel Christian finding nothing further to engage his attention, 
returned with his army to the Ijong Island in Holston river. This 
campaign lasted three months, and but a single white man was 
killed. This was a man whose name was Duncan, a soldier under 
Captain Jacob Womack. He was killed in an engagement with the 
Indians. This man left a wife (she was a cripple), and five small 
children, to whom the General Assembly of Virginia, on June 10, 
1777, allowed the sum of twenty pounds for their present relief and 



*Rear Guard of the Revohition, p. 126. 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-17S0. 245 

the further sum of five pounds per annum, for the period of five 
years, with directions to Anthon}' Bledsoe and William Cocke, to lay 
out and expend the same for the support and maintenance of Eliza- 
beth Duncan and her children. Several white men were slightly 
wounded by the Indians and by accident, upon this expedition, 
among the number being Samuel Douglas, Thomas Berry and 
George Berry, Jr. 

Upon the return of the army to the Long Island of the Holston, 
('Olonel Christian reorganized the same, and, for the protection of 
the frontiers, left six hundred men at the island under the command 
of Colonel Evan Shelby fflid Major Anthony Bledsoe. 

The General Assembly of Virginia directed the Governor and 
Council to take such measures for the preservation and disposition 
of the horses and provision belonging to the government and in use 
upon this expedition as should appear to be most proper and con- 
ducive to the interest of the country. And, by the same act, the 
Governor and Council were directed to give instructions to the con;- 
manding officer of the army destined against the Cherokees, to 
take such steps, at the end of the campaign, as were thought neces- 
sary for the future safety and protection of the southwestern fron- 
tier of this State. Whereupon the Governor and Council of Virginia 
directed Captain Thomas Madison to^ take the necessary steps to col- 
lect all the cattle and horses on hand upon the return of the army 
from this expedition, and to take care of them, whereupon Captain 
]\Iadison employed: 

William Carmack, Jolm Delaney, 

Stephen Richards, "Matthew Dean, 

John Fulkerson, Cornelius Carmack, 

Andrew Greer, Joseph Greer, 

John Nash, Samuel Looney, 

Peter Looney, William McBroom, 

John Cox, John Carmack, 

Jonathan Drake, Ezekiel Smith, 

Henry Hickey, Isaac Drake, 

Hugh Blair, Benjamin Drake, 

to herd and take care of the country cattle, from the 13th day of 
November, 1776, to the 11th day of June, 1777. And Colonel 
Christian, pursuant to the directions of the Governor and Council, 
stationed the six hundred men as above detailed at Long Island, 



I 



246 Southivcst Virginia, 17 Jf 6-17 86. 

and directed Captain Joseph Martin to^ proceed to the Rye Cove 
Fort, about fifty miles from North Fork of the Clinch river, with 
eighty men. The rest of the army were mustered out of service. 
Captain Martin immediately began the march to the Rye Cove. 
Upon this march he had to pass through a very dangerous gap, 
called Little Moccasin, where the trail went through a very nar- 
row and deep gorge of the mountain and where the Indians had 
killed a great many white people. When Captain Martin began 
the march through the gap, he had his men in fine order and 
strung out in single file. Just as the head of the column 
emerged from the narrow defile, the whole column was fired upon 
by Indians from the top of the ridge, where they were strung out 
in a line as long as Captain Martin's. As soon as the Indians 
fired, they ran off, having failed to kill any of Martin's men 
But one man, James Bunch, a member of Martin's company, 
had five balls shot through his flesh, whereby he was rendered 
incapable of getting a livelihood by labor, and was allowed by 
the General Assembly of Virginia thirty pounds for his pres- 
ent relief and half pay as a soldier for three years. 

The Indians having all fled. Captain Martin proceeded to Rye 
Cove, where he remained until the first of May, 1777, when he 
was ordered back to the Long Island, where he remained until 
the treaty of peace was concluded between the Indians and the 
whites on July the first. 

In December of the year 1776, the commanding officer at 
Fort Patrick Henry dispatched Samuel Newell and another per- 
son to the Cherokee town for the Indian chief, the Raven of 
Chote. Upon their return ■ trip they were accompanied by the 
Indian chief. 

A short time thereafter, jn the month of January, 1777, 
Samuel ISTewell was again ordered to the Indian town, Chote, 
with letters in regard to a family that had been murdered near 
Fort Patrick Henry. While on his way to the town of Toquo. 
he was tomahawked by the Indians and scalped, and soon there- 
after died in the town of Chote. His horse, gun, saddle and 
bridle, saddle-bags and clothes were carried off by the Indians, 
who murdered him. 

A number of the citizens of Fincastle county petitioned the 
General Assembly of Virginia for compensation for pasturage 



South'wesb Virginia, 1740-1786. 347 

taken and the provisions used by Colonel C%ristian upon this 
expedition^ among the number so petitioning being 

Amos Eaton, John Latham, 

James Kincannon Evan Shelby, 

David Getgood, Abel Eichardson, 

John Beatie, James McGavock, 

William Sayers, James Aylett, 

Ephraim Dunlop, Eobert Barnett, 
William Cocke, 

The General Assembly of Virginia at its fall session in 1776, 
allowed Isaac Thomas, the faithful friend of the white settlers, 
one hundred pounds as a reward for the services he had rendered 
the settlers by giving them information of the intended incur- 
sions of the Indians, and paid him for the stock and property 
lost at the time of the outbreak of the Indian war. 

The Govei'nor and Council of Virginia directed that for the 
purpose of concluding a treaty of peace between the Indians and 
the Commonwealth of Virginia a convention should be held at 
the Long Island of Holston, in the month of May, 1777, and 
appointed Colonel William Christian, Colonel William' Preston 
and Major Evan Shelby to act as the Virginia commissioners at 
said convention. The Governor and Council of North Carolina 
appointoff Waightstill Avery, Joseph Winston and Eobert 
Lanier, commissioners upon the part of North Carolina at said 
convention. The commissioners of the two States met the Indian 
chiefs, who liad been assembled through the efforts of Nathaniel 
Gist, at the Long Island in May, 1777, and drafted a treaty, 
which treaty was submitted to the Goivernor and Council of 
Virginia on May 38, 1777, at whieli time the Council entered 
tlie following orders : 

"Having referred to tlie Governor of this board to direct a 
ti-eaty begun witli tlie Clierokee Indians in such manner as tliey 
til ink best, 

"Eesolved, That the Governor be desired to confer with the 
Cherokee chiefs and warriors, from time to time during their 
said meeting, on the subject of all disputes now subsisting 
betwetm them and this State, and in regard to the treaty of peace 
now under consideration, and if he receive any proposals to 



248 Southwest Virginia, 17 46-17 S6. 

make a good and proper answer to them, preparatory to com- 
pletion, the conference to be hehl at the Great Ishmd on twO' 
days next inontli, and this board will attend at such conference 
as may be appointed, and that Dr. Walker and Colonel Christian 
be desired to provide from the public store, or, in their place, 
proper presents to be made to the Indians now here and consider 
what is necessary to provide for the Indians at the next meeting 
at the Great Island. 

"Adjourned at 10 o'clock. 

"John Page, Tho. Walker, 

"Dudley Diggs, Nathaniel Harrison, 

"John Blair, David Jamison, 

"Bartho Dandridge. 
".Colonel William Christian, one of the commissioners ap- 
pointed on behalf of this State to form a treaty of peace with 
the Cherokee Indians, having attended this board with the pro- 
ceedings of himself and the other commissioners at a treaty held 
at the Great Island, in consequence of their former instructions, 
upon considering the same the board entirely approved thereof, 
and think it necessary that the same should be laid before tlie 
General Assembly, which the Go'Vernor is desired to do, and Col- 
onel William Christian having also informed the board that 
several of the chiefs and warrio^rs of said nation of Indians will 
accompany him to Williamsburg, resolved that they be received 
and treated in the most friendly manner and furnished with all 
necessaries imtil the General Assembly shall give further direc- 
tions in the matter." 

This treaty was not concluded until the first day of July, 1777. 
By this treaty a new boundary line was established between the 
settlers and the Indians. The boundaries as fixed by this treaty 
extended as far down as the mouth of Cloud's creek. This treaty 
was signed by all the. Indian chiefs except Dragging Canoe, who 
was woimded at the battle of Long Island Flats. He said "that he 
would hold fast to the talks of Cameron the British agent and 
continue the war as before." While the treaty was being nego- 
tiated two men were murdered on the Clinch river by Dragging 
Canoe and some O'f his men, and conduct of this character was 
continued for many years on the part of Dragging Canoe and the 
Chickamausra Indians. 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 249 

While this treaty was being negotiated a great many Indians, 
with their squaws and children, had collected and were quartered 
in the island, surrounded by a guard to prevent improper inter- 
course with the whites, but, notwithstanding this precautflon, 
soine abandoned fellow shot across the river and killed an Indian. 
This produced great confusion; the Indians thought they were 
betrayed and prepared to fly, and it was with much exertion that 
the officers and commissioners pacified and convinced them that 
such was not the fact. Afterwards, when the Council met, the 
Raven opened the conference on the part of his people by a speech 
in which he reverted to the case of the murdered Indian. He 
said, "lest that unhappy affair should disturb the harmony and 
sincerity tliat ought to exist at that time between the white and 
I'ed brethren, each party ought to view it as having happened so 
long ago, that if, when the Indian was buried, an acorn had l)CGn 
(hi'own into his grave, it would have sprouted and grown and 
l)ocome a lofty spreading oak, sufficiently large for them to sit 
under its shade and hold their talk. 

This speech was thought by many to be equal to anything in 
tlie celebrated speech of Logan. 

From the fall of 1775 to the close ol the Eevolutionary war, 
the settlers in this part of Virginia were compelled to occupy 
tlioir forts from early spring until late in the fall, as their settle- 
ments were constantly visited by bands of Cherokee and Shaw- 
lu^se Indians sent upon them by the British agents, but the settle- 
iiients enjoyed perfect freedom from the Indians from the first 
appearance of winter until the return of spring. During this 
interval of time the Indians were deterred from making raids 
into the settlements, by the great danger of detection in conse- 
quence of the nakedness of the trees, by the danger of being 
traced by their tracks in the snow, and by the suffering pro- 
duced by exposure to cold while traveling and lying in wait. The 
settlers took advantage of this immunity from attacks by the 
Indians, cleared their lands, built their houses and made everv 
possible preparation for their crops during the coming season. 

During the summer of 1776, elections were held throughout 
tlie Commonwealth for members of the House of Delegates and 
the Senate under the new Constitution. At this election the fol- 
lowing persons were elected members of the House of Delegates 



350 South-west Virginia, 17J,6-17S6. 

from Fineastle county: Arthur Campbell and William Knssell. 
And the member of the Senate from Botetourt and Fineastle, 
that being the Tenth SenatoTial District, was Colonel William 
Christian. 

By an ordinance of tlie convention of 1775, adopted July 15, 
1775, the Western District of Virginia, of which Fineastle county 
■vas a part, was required to furnish sixty-eight expert riflemen 
for the regular service. 

And by an Act of the Assembly of Virginia adopted in Octo- 
ber, 1776, a requisition of seventy-four men was made upon the 
authorities of Fineastle county tO' be officered by a captain a}»- 
l)ointed by the Governor. 

A First Lieutenant, 

A Second Lieutenant, 

and an Ensign. 

The officers of the company organized in Fineastle county for 
the continental service in the year 1776 cannot be ascertained, 
save in one instance. 

John Buchanan was lieutenant of this company at its organ- 
ization, and was a lieutenant in the Seventh Eegiment in the fall 
of the same year, and remained in the service until killed in the 
year 1777. 

At a meeting of the General Assembly of Virginia, in the fall 
of the year 1776, a petition from the inhabitants of the western 
parts of Fineastle county was presented to the House and read; 
setting forth that they became adventurers in that part of the 
county in the year 1774, and were obliged by the incursions of 
the Indians to abandon their settlements, after having discovered 
and explored the country ; that others afterwards became adven- 
turers and claimed the lands by warrants from Lord Dunmoi-e, 
under the royal proclamation of 17();3, and a company of men 
from North Carolina purchased, or pretended to ]Hirchase, from 
the Cherokee Indians, all the lands from the sonthernmost waters 
of Cumberland river to the banks of the Louisa river, including 
the lands in Powell's Valley, by virtue of which purchase they 
styled themselves the absolute proprietors of the new independent 
Transylvania; that officers, both civil and military, are appointed, 
writs of election issued, assemblies convened, a land office opened, 
and lands sold at an exorbitant price, and a system of policy 



Southivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 251 

introduced, not agreeing with that lately adopted hy the late 
United Colonies, and that they have the greatest reason tO' ques- 
tion the validity of the purchase aforesaid; that they consider 
tliemselves and the said lands to l^e in the State of Virginia. 
Avliose legislature they acknowledge, and to which State they con- 
ceive they justly belong; that having assembled together after 
due notice, they elected two members to represent them in this 
House, and hope they may be received as their delegates; that 
tliey are ready and willing, to the utmost of their abilities, to 
assist in the support of the present laudable cause, by contribute 
ing their quota of men and moneys, and that in order to pre- 
serve good order, they had, as was done in West Augusta, elected 
a committee consisting of twenty-one members, and cheerfully 
pulmiitted the case to the House. This petition of the inhabi- 
tants of that part of Fincastle county, now included within the 
State of Kentucky, was accompanied by petitions from nearly 
all the settlei's on the Holston and Clinch rivers, and was pre- 
sented to the General Assembly on the eighth day of October, 
177fi, and the General Assembly on Friday, October 11, 1776, 
adopted the following resolutions : 

"Resolved, That the inhabitants of the western part of Fincas- 
tle co'unty not being allowed l)y the law a distinct representation 
in the General Assembly, the delegates chosen to represent them 
in this House cannot be admitted. At the same time the com- 
mittee are of opinion, that the said inhabitants ought to be 
formed into a distinct county, in order to entitle them to such 
representation and other benefits o.f government." 

The petition for the division of Fincastle county was referred 
to a committee of which Carter Braxton was chairman, which 
committee, through its chairman, on Tuesday, October 15, 1776, 
presented a bill for the division of the county of Fincastle into 
two distinct counties, Avhich bill was read the first time and 
ordered to be read the second time. On Wednesday, October 16, 
1776, this bill was read a second time and was committed to 
Tliomas Jefferson and the members from Augusta and Botetourt 
counties, and on October 17, 1776, Mr. Jefferson, from the com- 
mittee to whom the bill for dividing the county of Fincastle into 
two distinct counties was committed, reported that the com- 
mittee had gone through the bill and made several amendments 



252 Southwest Virginia, nJt6-n86. 

thereto, which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in 
at the clerk's table, where the same was again twice read and 
agreed to^ and ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. 
And, on Wednesday, October 30, 177G, this bill was ordered to be 
committed to Mr. Jefferson,' Mr. Sinims, Mr. Bullitt and the 
members from Fincastle, Augusta and Botetourt counties, and on 
ISTovember 19, 177G, Mr. Mason and the members from Frederick, 
Hampshire and Bedford counties were added to the committee, 
to whom the bill for dividing the county of Fincastle into two 
distinct counties was committed. And on Monday, November 
26, 1776, the bill for dividing the county of Fincastle into three 
distinct counties was read a third time, and it was: 

"Eesolved, That the said bill do pass, and that the title be, an 
Act for dividing the county of Fincastle into two distinct coun- 
ties, and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct parishes, and 
Mr. Arthur Campbell was appointed to carry the same to the 
Senate for their concurrence. 

In the Senate, several amendments were proposed to tlie l)ill 
passed by the House, which amendments, being communicated 
to the House, were disagreed to., whereupon, the Senate com- 
municated with the House, throiig]i Mr. Ellzey, as follows: 
"Mr. Speaker: 

"The Senate do insist on the amendments by them proposed 
to the bill entitled. An Act for Dividing the County of Fincastle 
into three distinct counties, and the parish of Botetourt into four 
distinct parishes. And upon the amendments being again read, 
it was, by the House of Delegates, 

"Eesolved, That this House do recede from their disagree- 
ment to the said amendments proposed by the Senate, whicli 
action of the House having been communicated to. the Senate, the 
Senate insisted on the amendments proposed to the bill by them, 
whereupon, the Virginia House of Delegates, on December 6, 
1776, 

"Resolved, That this House do insist on the disagreement to 
said amendments, and that Mr. Campbell do acquaint the Sen- 
ate therewith." 

Which resolution being communicated to the Senate, the Act 
for the dividing of the county of Fincastle into three distinct 
counties, and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct parishes, 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 253 

was adopted, the Senate having receded from the amendments 
proposed by them. 

This act provided tliat from and after the 31st day of Decem- 
ber, 177G, the county of Fincastle shall be divided into three 
distinct counties, to be known by the names of Montgomery, 
Washington and Kentucky. 

Thns ends tJie history of Fincastle county, in so far as the 
liistory of that county forms a part of the history of Washing- 
ton county. 



254 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



CIIAPTEE VII. 

WASHINGTON^ COUNTY, 1777-178G. 

Tlie Act of the General Assembly of Virginia dividing the 
county of Fineastle into three distinct counties, to-wit: Mont- 
gomery, Washington, and Kentucky, was adopted by the General 
Assembly of Virginia on the 6th day of December, 177G, and pro- 
vided that from and after the last day of December, 1776, the 
said county of Fineastle should be divided into three countie'^. 
And this Act defines the bounds of Washington county as follows, 
viz. : "That all tliat part of said county of Fineastle included in 
the lines beginning at the Cumberland mountains where the line 
of Kentucky county intersects the North Carolina (now Tennes- 
see) line ; thence east along the said Carolina line to the top of 
Iron mountain; thence along the same easterly to the source ol" 
the South Fork of the Holston river; thence northwardly alone 
the highest part of the highlands, ridges and mountains that di- 
vide the waters of the Tennessee from those of the Great Ka- 
nawha to the most easterly source of Clinch river; thence west- 
Wardly along the top of the mountain that divides the waters of the 
Clinch river from those of the Great Kanawha and Sandy Creek 
to the line of Kentucky county, and thence along the same 
to the beginning, shall be one other distinct county and called and 
known by the name of Washington.* 

"The eastern boundary of Washington county as thus defined was 
altered by Act of the General Assembly of Virginia at its session 
in the month of May, 1777, as follows: Beginning at a ford on 
Holston river, next above Captain John Campbell's, at the Eoyal 
Oak, and running from thence a due south course to the dividing 
line between the States of Virginia and North Carolina; and 
from the ford aforesaid to the westerly end of Morris' Knob, about 
three miles above Maiden Spring on Clinch, and from thence, by 
a line to be drawn due nortli, until it shall intersect the waters of 
the Great Sandy river." 

The Act establishing the county of Washington directed that the 



*Hening statutes, 1770. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 255 

justices named in the commissions of the peace for the said 
county shoukl meet at Black's Fort, in said county, on the last 
Tuesday in January, 1777, which day in each month was desig- 
nated by said Act as County Co^urt day, and a majority of the 
justices .-;o commissioned were authorized to designate tlie place 
for holding said court and to elect a clei'k for said court. 

The power to appoint the first sheriff of the county was vested 
in the Grovernor. 

The teri'itory included witliin the county of Washington as 
thus established is now embraced in the following counties : 

Wasliington, Tazewell, 

Eussell, Lee, 

Scott, Buchanan, 

Smyth, Dickenson, 

Wise, 

a territoi-y sufficient in extent and wealth to constitute a great 
State. 

Governor Patrick Henry, on the 21st day of December, 1776, is- 
sued a commission of the peace and dedimus for Washington 
county appointing the following persons as justices of the peace 
for said county : 

Arthur Campbell, William Edmiston, 

Evan Shelby, Joseph Martin, 

James Dysart, John Campbell, 

John Anderson, Alexander Buchanan, 

John Coulter, John Kinkead, 

William Campbell, James Montgomery,. 

Daniel Smith, John Snoddy, 

George Blackburn a;nd Thomas Mastin, 

and on the same day he issued his commission appointing the fol- 
lowing officers for the said county : 

Sheriff — James Dysart, 
County Lieutenant — Arthur Campbell, 
Colonel — Evan Shelby, 
Lieutenant-Colonel — William Campbell, 
Major — Daniel Smith. 

The first court of said county a,ssemhled at Black's Fort (i!ov»- 
Abingdon) on the last Tuesday in January, 1777, being the 28th 



356 Southivest Virgima, 1746-1786. 

day of that month, pursuant to the Act of the Assembly establish- 
ing the county, on which day William Campbell and Joseph Mar- 
tin, two of the justices commissioned by the Governor, adminis- 
tered the oath of a justice of the peace and of a justice of the 
County Court in Chancery to Arthur Campbell, the first justice 
named in said commission, and he afterwards administered the 
aforesaid oaths to : 

William Campbell, William Edraiston, 

John Campbell, Joseph Martin, 

John Kinkead, John AndersoD, 

James Montgomery, John Snoddy, 

and George Blackburn. 

The court thus assembled, constituting a majority of the jus- 
tices commissioned by the Governor, proceeded to the election o^ 
a clerk, when David Campbell was elected clerk. 

At the time Washington county was established by law Colo- 
nel Arthur Campbell and Colonel William Eussell represented 
Fincastle county in the House of Delegates, and Colonel William 
Christian represented the district in the Senate of Virgiinia. 
Colonel Campbell and Colonel Eussell resided in that portion of 
Fincastle county afterwards included in the bounds of Washington 
county. Colonel Eussell and Colonel Cliristian had served with 
General Washington in the Continental Army, while Colonel 
Arthur Campbell had been a member of the Convention that 
adopted the Constitution establishing the Commonwealth of Vir- 
ginia, which Convention elected General George Washington a 
member of 'the Continental Congress which assemljlerl iu Philadel- 
phia in 177fi. Tt is not definitely known who suggested the name 
of T\'as]iington for the new county ; and while the question is m 
doubt, still it is reasonable to suppose that Colonel Arthur Camp- 
bell was the author of the idea, as it appears from the proceedings 
of the House of Delegates that he was designated by the Honse to 
convey the information to the Senate of Virginia that the House 
had passed the Act establishing the county. 

But without regard to who suggested the name for the new 
county it is a fact that this is the first locality in the United States 
that was honored with the name of the "Father of Our Country." 
The Act establishing the new county was agreed to by the Gleneral 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 257 

Assembly of A^irginia on December 6, 177G, and the county gov- 
ernment was organized on January 28, 1777. 

Tennessee and North Carolina historians insist that Washington 
county, Tennessee, was the first locality in the Union to receive 
the name of Washington, but, by an examination of the North 
Carolina records, it will be ascertained that Washington district?. 
North Carolina (now Tennessee), was not mentioned until April, 
1777, and the county of Washington, North, Carolina (now Ten- 
nessee), was not established by the G-eneral Assembly of North. 
Carolina until November, 1777. 

Black's Fort, the locality of the meeting of the first court of 
Washington county, was erected in the year 1776 on the lands of 
Captain Joseph Black, on the west bank or near the west ban!" 
of what was then known as Eighteen Miles Creek, alias Castle's 
Creek, by the settlers living in the vicinity, and about five hun- 
dred other settlers who had fled from their homes west of Abing- 
don upon the outbreak of the Indian War in 1776. It was one 
of those rude structures which the pioneers were accustomed 
to make for defence against the Indians, consisting of a few 
log cabins surrounded by a stockade. The locality of this fort wa? 
aliout twenty-five yards south of the Norfolk and Western rail- 
road, in the Knob road, and near the brick cottage, the property 
of Charles F. Palmer. 

In the fall of the year 1879, Captain Frank S. Findlay, while 
excavating for a place for a turbine wheel near this place, discov- 
ered a portion of an old wall constructed of rock and logs some five 
OT six feet below the surface, and in the wall was found an arrow 
made from the heart of a white oak, with a sharp iron spike af- 
fixed. This wall was a part of the old fort, and it is not improb- 
able that this arrow was sped there by an Indian. In the year 1796 
a mill dam was erected alx)ut fifty yards south of this old wall.* 

The first court of Washington county was in session two days, 
January 28th-29tb. The first day of the term was occupied in 
qualifying the members of the court, the election of a clerk, th(i 
qualifications of militia officers, as above given, and the granting 
of letters of administration in several cases. Upon the second day 
of the term the first matter of importance that received the atten- 
tion of the court was the appointment of William Campbell, Wil- 



*Black's Mill Dam. 



258 Southwest Virginia, 17^G-17SG. 

Ham Edmiston, Jolm Anderson and George Blackburn as com- 
missioners to hire wagons to bring np the county salt allowed 
by the Governor and Council, and to receive and distribute the 
same agreeably to said order of Council. 

Some people, in speaking of this order of the County Court, 
have expressed surprise that such an order shnxdd have been en- 
tered by the court of a county in which was located great beds of 
salt, and, further, that the Governor and Council thus allotted 
salt to this county. 

At the time this order was entered salt was a rare article and 
exceedingly valuable, and was not known to exist in this country. 
So difficult was it to supply the demands for salt that in the year 
177G the General Assembly of Virginia enacted the following law: 

"Eesolved that the Governor, with the advice of the Privy Coun- 
cil, be empowered to purchase, on account of the public and at a 
generous price, all the salt that may be imported into this coun- 
try in the course of the next six months, and that he be authorized 
to issue his warrant on the treasurer to^ pay for the same: that 
such salt when purchased be immediately stored in some convenient 
and secure parts of the country, and distributed by order of the 
Governor, with the advice of the Council, amongst the inhabi- 
tants of the different counties, in such proportion as their exi- 
gencies and the quantity procured may admit, regard being prin- 
cipally had to such counties as are farthest removed from salt 
water ; and that the receivers of the salt do pay into the hands 
of such persons as may be appointed for that purpose, at the time , 
O'f the delivery, so much per bushel, as the Governor, with the advice 
of the Council, may judge reasonable; the money when received to 
be paid with all convenient dispatch into the treasury, for reim- 
bursing the publick." 

It was pursuant to the order of the Governor and Council, acting | 
upon the authority of this act, that the commissioners were 
appointed. On the second day the court proceeded to appoint a 
number of officers to- take a list of tithables and of the quantity of 
taxable lands in the county. 

The following' commissioners were appointed by tlie court to 
do this work in the localities mentioned, to-wit: 

Joseph Martin, on north side Clinch mountain, high as Glade 
Hollow. John Kinkead, Glade Hollow to head of Clinch. John 










.1 8 






Washington Countij, 1777-1870. 250 

Campbell, head of Holston to Stalnaker's direct across. William 
Edmistoii, Stalnaker's to Black's Fort, direct across. James Mont- 
gomery, Black's Fort to Major Bledsoe's. John Anderson, from 
Major Bledsoe's as low as there are settlers. At the same time 
the court appointed the following constables: Eawley Duncan, 
from Castle's Woods to lowest settlement. James Wharton, Castle's 
Woods to Glade Hollow. James Laughlin, Glade Hollow, to upper 
settlement Elk Garden. William Lean, head of Holston to Seven- 
Mile Ford. Robert Brown, Seven-Mile Ford to Eleven-Mile Creek. 
Christopher Acklin, Eleven-Mile Creek to Ford of Beaver Creek. 
John Fain, Eleven-Mile Creek to Sinking Creek. James Steel, 
Ford Beaver Creek to Amos Eaton's. At the same time the fol- 
lowing surveyors of roads were appointed : Alexander Wylie, from 
county line to Charles Hayes. John Hays, from Charles Hays' to 
Mill Creek. Jacob Anderson, from Mill Creek to Seven-Mile Ford. 
Aaron Lewis, Seven-Mile Ford to Big Spring. Andrew Kincan- 
non from Big Spring to James Kincannon's. James Bryan, from 
James Kincannon's to Joseph Black's. Andrew Colvill, from 
Joseph Black's to Ford Beaver Creek. Benjamin Gray, Ford Bea- 
ver Creek to Steel's Creek. David Steel, from Steel's Creek to 
the meeting house. Amos Eaton, from meeting house to Fort 
Patrick Henry. Thomas Berry, Watauga Road, James Bryan's to 
James Montgomery's. • W^illiam Young, Captain Montgomery's to 
Isaac Riddle's. John Cox, Isaac Riddle's to Ford of Holston. 

The names as above given and the localities assigned to each are 
important in this, that they definitely indicate the established 
roads in the county at the beginning of our local government, and 
define, with reasonable certainty, the extent of the settlements at 
that time. Many readers will be surprised to know that the Vir- 
ginia authorities appointed officials and exercised jurisdiction over 
the country (now Tennessee), as low down as Fort Patrick Henry, 
thirty miles below Bristol. The explanation is that our people 
supposed the Holston river to be the dividing line between the two 
States, Virginia and North Carolina. At this time and for several 
years thereafter, Virginia exercised jurisdiction, collected taxes 
and gave protection tO' the settlers as low down as Carter's Valley 
in Tennessee. 

On the second day of the court, Isaac Shelby, Robert Craig, John 
Dunkin and John Adair, were recommiended to the Governor as 



260 Southwest Virgmia, 174G-178G. 

proper persons to be added to the Commission of the Peace for the 
county, and they were commissioned accordingly. On the same 
day the court recommended to Ednumd l\ando]ph, Attorney for 
the Commonwealth, Ephraim Dnnloj), as a ])roper person to act 
as Deputy Attorney for the Coinnionwealth in this county, and he 
was commissioned accordingly, and became tlie first practising 
attorney for the C^omanonwealth in this county. 

On the same day the court ordered tliat the house adjoining that 
which the court is held in, bo a prison, and that the sheriff be 
empowered to employ some person to put it in the best repair he 
can." 

The statement has been made by a very worthy citizen of Wash- 
ington county of former days,* "that the first court of this county 
assembled in a grove on the hillside south of Greenway's store, but 
in view of the above order of the court, this statement is inaccu- 
rate, as the court was hehl within the stockade of Black's Fort, and 
the house designated as a prison was within the same stockade. 

At the time in question, the courts of the country undertook to 
regulate the private affairs of the citizens to a much greater extent 
than at tlie present time, which can be accounted for by the fact 
that our people had just shaken off the heavy hand of monarchy 
and established, for the first time, constitutional government. 

As an example of the extent to which the private concerns of the 
people were then regulated by government, the court of this county, 
on the second day of its term, fixed the price of liquors as follows : 
Rum, 16s. per gallon; Eye whiskey, 8s. ; corn whiskey, 4s. ; a bowl of 
rum toddy, with loaf sugar, 2s., Avith brown sugar Is. 

And at the March term, 1779, it fixed the price of a warm din- 
ner at 15s. ; cold dinner, 9s. ; for a good breakfast, 12s. ; oats or 
corn at -Is. per gallon; good lodging with clean sheets, 2s. Stal)- 
blidge, with hay or fodder, 2s., and good pasturage the same. 

After the transaction of considerable business, on the afternoon 
of the 29th day of January, 1777, the first court of the county 
adjourned, to court in course, which was the last Tuesday in Feb- 
ruary, being the 25th day of that month, on which day the court 
assembled at Black's Fort, with several members present. The first 
business of importance transacted was the qualification of Luke 
Bowyer to practice as an attorney in this court, and, thereupon, 



*Charles B. Coale. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 261 

the court proceeded tO' the examination of Edward Bond, on suspi- 
cion of his having murdered Thomas Jones. The court heard the 
evidence and acquitted the prisoner. On the following day the 
court proceeded to the examination of the same Edward Bond, 
upon suspicion of his having stolen a small bay mare of the value 
of fifteen pounds, and upon a hearing of the evidence against him, 
he was held for trial at the General Court, at the capitol in the 
city of Williamsburg." 

The student of our early history must bo impressed with this 
fact, that our forefathers would give to the prisoner charged with 
murder the benefit of every reasonable doubt, while, on the other 
liand, they would give the prisoner charged with horse-stealing, the 
maximum punishment prescriljed by law, if there existed against 
bill! a strong suspicion. 

On the 26th day of February, 1777, the court proceeded to recom- 
mend to the Governor of Virginia the- militia officers for Wash- 
ington county, which officers were duly commissioned and were 
as follows: 

Captains : 

William Edmiston, John Campbell, Eoyal Oak; 

Joseph Martin, John Shelby, Sr. ; 

James Montgomery, Eobert Buchanan, Sr., 

Aaron Lewis, John Duncan, 

Gilbert Christian, James Shelby, 

James Dysart, Thomas Mastin, 

John Campl)ell, " John Kinkead, 

John Anderson, William Bowen, 

George Adams, Eobert Craig, 

Andrew Colvill, James Eobertson, Watauga. 

Tiieutenants of j\Iilitia : 

David Beattie, James Maxwell, 

Samuel Hays, John Snoddy, 

David Ward, John Coulter, 

Thomas Price, Eoger Topp, 

George Freeland, John Anderson, 

James Fulkerson, George Maxwell, 

John Berry, William Blackburn, 

Charles Campbell, Andrew Kincannon, 



262 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

Lieutenants of Militia — Con. 
John Frazier, Charles Allison, "^ 

Alexander Wylie, Joseph Black. 

Ensigns of Militia : 

^"^ Thomas Whitten, Rees Bowen, 

Solomon Litton, Henry Dickenson, 

Abraham McClelland, William Rosebroiigh, 

John Loony, Josiah Eamsey, 

James Elliott, William Young, 

John Davis, W^illiam Casey, 

John Wilson, John Lowry, 

James Shaw, William Neal, 

James Crabtree, Arthur Bowen, 

Robert Davis, Alexander Barnett. 

Colonel Arthur Campbell, immediately upon his qualification as 
county lieutenant of Washington coamty, proceeded to organize the 
militia of the county, and place the same upon such footing as they 
would be able to repel any attack that might be made upon the set- 
tlers on the frontiers, the most exposed part of which was in Car- 
ter's Valley and the Watauga settlement in the vicinity of Eliza- 
bethton, Tennessee. 

On the 31st day of March, 1777, he requested James Robertson, 
a captain in the militia of this county, residing at Watauga to fur- 
nish him with a list of the settlers at Watauga, that he might loiow 
their strength and give such orders as were necessary for their pro- 
tection. Captain Robertson fvirnished the list, whereupon Colonel 
Campbell, in view of the danger in which the settlements stood, 
directed Robertson to assemble the settlers in one or two places, 
and he recommended Rice's and Patterson's Mills as the most pro- 
per ones. "Let yo'ur company be at Rice's," said he, "and Captain 
Gilbert Christian may come to Patterson's Mill." 

There was to have been a complete sus])ension of hos^tilities 
between the Cherokee Indians and the white settlers, from the 
return of Colonel Christian, in the fall of 1776, until the month 
of May, 1777, the time set for the negotiation of a treaty at Long 
Island. NotAvithstanding the fact that the Indians had agreed to 
a suspension ol hostilities, and that there were four hundred 
soldiers stationed at Long Island, under the command of Colonel, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 263 

Evan Shelby and Major Anthony Bledsoe, numerous hostilities 
were committed by tlie Indians. Several murders were committed 
on the frontiers, and on the lOth of April, 1777, James Calvatt was 
shot and scalped. The Indians who killed Calvatt were pursued 
Ijy Captain James Robertson and nine men, who killed one Indian 
and retook ten horses, but, upon his return from the pursuit of the 
Indians, he and his men were attacked by a party of Creeks and 
Cherokees, who wounded two of his men and forced him to retreat. 
At the same time two men were killed on Clinch river, and it 
developed tliat tlie Indians had numerous parties out murdering 
and plundering whenever possible. The Indians put the blame of 
this trouble upon Dragging Canoe, the Indian chief, who, upon 
receiving a wound at the battle of Long Island Flats, on July 20, 
1776, had retired to the Chickamauga country and refused to 
talk of peace. 

In the spring of the year 1777, pursuant to the provisions of the 
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, an election was held 
for members of the Grcneral Assembly from Washington county, 
at which election Arthur Campbell and William Edmiston were 
opposed by Anthony Bledsoe and William, Cocke. 

The qualification of electors voting at said election was as fol- 
lows: "Every free white man, who, at the time of the election, 
shall have been for one year preceding, in possession of twenty- 
five acres of land with a house and plantation thereon, or one hun- 
dred acres of land without a house and plantation thereon, and 
having right for an estate for life, at least, in the s'aid land, in 
his own right or in the right of his wife, was entitled to a vote." 

This election was hotly contested and resulted in favor of 
Anthony Bledsoe and William Cocke, two gentlemen who after- 
wards became distinguished in the history of Tennessee, William 
Cocke being one of tlie two United States Senators elected to repre- 
sent the State of Tennessee, at the date of its formation, in the 
Senate of the United States. 

Colonel Arthur Campbell and Captain William Edmiston, on the 
20th day of May, 1777, filed a petition with the House of Dele- 
gates of Virginia, setting forth that the petitioners, with Anthony 
Bledsoe and William Cocke, were candidates at the last election of 
delegates for the county of Washington ; that on the close of the 
poll it appeared that the greatest number of votes taken were in 



264 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

favor of Anthony Bledsoe and William Cocke, owing, as they con- 
ceive, to many votes heing given in by persons who reside in North 
Carolina and by others not entitled to vote; that they a])pi-ehend the 
said Bledsoe is incapable of sitting as a member of the legislature, 
he having a military command which excluded him by the consti- 
tution; that the said Cocke is not possessed of such landed prop- 
erty in the county as is required by law, not to mention some 
instances of bribery and corruption practised contrary to the spirit 
of the present government; that these matters give dissatisfaction 
to what they believe to be a majority of the legal electors in the 
said county; and submitting themselves to such determination as 
shall be thought reasonable and just. Thus our county was hon- 
ored by a contested election in the dawn of its history, which must 
have excited a good deal of feeling among the pioneers of the Hols- 
ton and the Clinch. 

During the same session of the General Assembly, Mr. Banister, 
chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, reported 
to the legislature that the committee had agreed upon a report and 
had come to several resolutions thereupon, which they had directed 
him to report to the House. Having read the rejwrt in his 
place, he afterwards delivered it in at the clerk's table, where 
the same was read and was as followeth — viz. : 

"As to the first charge contained in the said petition against the 
sitting members, as not having a greater number of legal votes than 
the petitioners, it appears to your committee, from a certificate of 
the sheriff of the county of Washington, that upon the close of the 
poll, the number of the voters stood as follows — to-wit: 

For Mr. Anthony Bledsoe 29: 

For Mr. William Cocke 294 

For Mr. Arthur Campbell 211 

For Mr. William Edmiston 144 

It also a]ipoars to your committee by a line run by Colonel John 
Donaldson l^etween this St<ate and North Carolina, as far as the 
Holston river, that should it l)e continued in the same latitude to 
where it would intersect the north fork of Holston river, a consider- 
able number of those who voted for the sitting menibers would be 
left in North Carolina, and if allowed the right of suffrage in 
the said county of Washington, would give them the greatest num- 
ber of legal votes. 



Washington Coiinti/, 1717-1870. 265 

It fartlu^r appears to your coinniittee, from the information of 
Thomas AYallver, Es(]., that from the most accurate observations he 
has been able to make, the Great Island on the Holston river lies 
in this State, and that, should a direct line run from where the 
said Donaldson's terminated to the said island, the greater number 
of \oters lining in the bend of Holston river would be taken into 
the county of Washington, and that such line would in many places 
intersect the river. 

It api)eai's to youi- committee from the information of C^olonol 
\\'illiam Christian that he brought a writ of ejectment in the 
County Court of Fincastle for a tract of land lying near the Hol- 
ston river, between the Great Island and the termination of Don- 
aldson's line; that the person who was in possession of the land and 
defended the suit, pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court, which 
was overruled and he ol)tained a judgiuent. 

It farther a])pears to your committee, from the testimony of 
James Thomiisou, that he acted as sheriff in the county formerly 
Fincastle in the years 1774 and 1775, during which time he col- 
lected levies and taxes from those people who reside on the north 
side of the Holston river as low down as within about six miles of 
the great island, which was esteeniied the reputed bounds of Vir- 
ginia. As to the second article of charge contained in the petition 
touching ]\Ir. Bledsoe's holding a military command, it appears 
to your committee that Mr. Bledsoe holds no other commission 
than that of a major in the militia. 

As to the article of charge against Mr. Cocke, as not being a land- 
holder and resident in the said county of Washington, it appears 
to your committee, from the testimony of James Thompson and 
John Montgomery, that Mr. Cocke was possessed, under a survey, 
of more than one hundred acres of land for one year preceding 
the election, hath resided in the county formerly Fincastle, with 
a family, several years, until some time in February last, when 
Mr. Cocke moved part of his family out of the country for fear 
of an Indian wai', but continues there himself the greater part of 
his time. 

That the said John IMontgomery was present when the ])oll was 
closed and h(>ard the sheriff proclaim the sitting members duly 
elected. 

As to the last article of charge respecting the bribery and cor- 



266 South west Virginia, llJfG-llSG. 

ruption, it appears to your committee to be groundless. Whereupon 
your committee came to the following resolutions : 

Resolved, as the opinion of this committee, That the said 
Anthony Bledsoe and William Cocke were duly elected to serve as 
delegates in this present General Assembly for the county of Wash- 
ington. 

The said resolutions being severally read a second time, were, 
upon the cpiestion severally put thereupon, agreed to by the House."* 

While the people of Washington county, Virginia, may feel some 
pride in knowing that our people explored East Tennessee and 
furnished the rule of action by which her early settlers were gov- 
erned, on the other hand East Tennesseeans will find pride in the 
fact that they furnished Washington county, Virginia, her first 
representatives in the Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

This election was held at Black's Fort, the county seat of Wash- 
ington county, and every elector in the county was required to 
attend and cast his vote in person, under a penalty, and we may 
well imagine what a busy appearance the neighborhood of Black's 
Fort presented that day, 946 men from Powell's Valley, Clinch 
Valley, Holston, Carter's Valley and Watauga, Tennessee. 

On the 29th day of April, 1777, the ancestor of a great many 
people whose names have been honorably associated with the his- 
tory of Washington county appeared in court. He was not a 
stranger to this section, nor was he a stranger to the members of 
that court. He had long been a deputy surveyor, under William 
Preston, surveyor of Fincastle county, and had previously thereto 
surveyed for the citizens of Holston large and numerous ti'acts 
of land. His name was Eobert Preston, and on that day he pre- 
sented to the court a commission from the masters of William and 
Mary College, appointing him surveyor of Washington county. 
The position of county surveyor was at that time, the most lucra- 
tive position to be found in any of the coimties and was much 
sought after. William Preston, of Smithfield, as well as Eobert 
Preston, had long been actively engaged by Colonel James Patton 
and the Loyal Tjand Company, in surveying and locating their 
grants of one hundred and twenty thousand and eight hundred 
thousand acres of land in Southwest Virginia. For this reason 
they had incurred the displeasure of many of the people of South- 



*Journal House of Delegates, 1777. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 267 

western Virginia, and particularly that of Colonel Arthur ("amp- 
bell and his family, men who were ambitious and who felt it their 
right to rule. Whether this was the reason for the action of the 
court, or whether the reason is correctly stated in the order of 
the court cannot be stated. The court entered the following order : 

"Eobert Preston, Gent., produced a commission from the Mas- 
ters of William and Mary College appointing him a surveyor of 
Washington, and it is the opinion of the court that the same should 
not be received, as it is issued by virtue of a prerogative from 
the Crown of England." 

If the order of this court correctly stated the motive of the 
court, there can be no question that the court detested the Crown 
of England and ever3i:hing emanating therefrom. 

Eobert Preston appealed from this order of the County Court 
of Washington county, to the General Court at Williamsburg, 
which appeal was pending for some time, during which time, Kobert 
Preston produced a surveyor's commission from the Masters of 
William and Mary College, dated January 23, 1777, to the Coimty 
Court, of this county, and desired to be qualified by the said court, 
but his application was refused by the court, as there was an appeal 
pending in the General Court for a refusal of the same character. 

While the appeal of Robert Preston was pending in the General 
Court, numerously signed petitions were presented to the General 
Assembly of Virginia, praying that body to confer the power of 
selecting eonnty surveyors upon the County Courts of the several 
counties, but Eobert Preston seemed to have the ear of government, 
and all petitions were rejected. 

I cannot say what disposition Avas luade of the appeal of Robert 
Preston, ])ut from an inspection of the records of the County Court 
of this county, the following information is gathered : "Robert 
Preston, Gent., produced a commission from Thos. Jefferson, Gov. 
of the Commonwealth of Virginia, being dated the 22nd day of 
December, 1779, appointing him Surveyor of the County of Wash- 
ington, and gave bond witJi James Dysart and Aaron Lewis, his 
securities, in the sum of 20,000 pounds for the faithful discharge 
of his office and took the oath of office." 

This office he filled until the year 1831, a little more than fifty- 
one years. The bad feeling between the Preston and Campbell fam- 
ilies continued for many years, during which time there was a 



2()S Soiitliircsl \'ir(/lni(t. 1 7. 'jd- 17 SO. 

resort to ai'iiis. A dufl was foiiiilit and a member of the Campbell 
raiiiily woiiiidcd, but 1 am ba|)|iy to say this feeliiiii' bas bmg since 
(!i('d out. and tbe two taiuilies for many years have been intimately 
eouneeted. socially and otlierwise. 

Tbe settlers on the Holston and Clincb, during the years 177()- 
1777, bad been greatly barassed by tbe invasion of the Indians, 
and thereby prevented from making anything like a crop from their 
lands. Tbey had alsO' been recpnred to furnish supplies to Colonel 
Cbi'istian and Jiis army of two thousand men, upon tbeir invasion 
of the Cbei'okee country, and the country was thereby greatly 
impoverisbed before the crojis in tlie year 1777 were harvested. 
Tbe good citizens, the relati\(>s and friends of the settlers, living 
in Augusta county, contril)ute(l tbroiigh i\Ir. Alexander St. Clair 
considerable sums of money, and provisions, for the relief of the 
settlers on the frontiers, and tbe County Court oi this county, 
besides entering the following order, directed Captain William 
Campbell to have Mr. St. Clair to lay out the money in his hands 
for wheat. 

"Ordered that Joseph Martin, John Kinlvcad, John Coulter, (lil- 
bert Christian, William Campl)ell and Thomas Mastin, who are 
hereby appointed as commissioners to distribute.' the flour con- 
tributed in Augusta county or elsewhere for the distressed inhabi- 
tants of this county, and to hire wagons to bring the same to this 
county." 

This is the only instance save one, in the history O'f this county, 
that outsiders have been called upon to contribute to the support 
of the people of Washington county. 

On tbe same day, the court entered an order appointing Eobert 
Young, constable, from Amos Eaton's to Patterson's Mill, Castle- 
ton Brooks, from Patterson's Mill to lowest settlements down the 
river. These appointments were made to keep in touch with tbe 
advancing settlements. 

At a meeting of the court on the 30th day of A])ril, 1777, it 
was "ordered that the court lie held as soon as the courthouse can be 
built, at the place formerly laid off for a town, upon the land given 
to the county by the honorable Thouuis Walker, Joseph Black and 
Samuel Briggs. 

At the time of the organization of the county. Dr. Thomas 
Walker, Jaseph Black and SAmuel Brigg-s agreed to give one bun- 



Washington Covnty, 1777-1870. 369 

(]red and twenty acres of land in the county of Wasliington agree- 
ably to a survey tJiereof made by Eobert Doach for the purpose 
of establishing a town thoi'eon. and for raising a sum of money 
towards defraying the expenses of l)uilding a courthouse and prison. 
This offer was made by the gentlemen mentioned to the County 
Court as an inducement to have them establish the county seat near 
Black's Fort and adjoining their other lands. 

Tradition says that the court hesitated for some time m making 
a selection between Wolf Hills, (now Abingdon), and Shugarts- 
ville, (now Green Spring). 

Prom a perusal of the orders of the County Court, it appears 
that a number of logs and otlier timber had been gathered at Mr. 
Black's for the purpose of building a magazine when, on the 27th 
day of August, 1777, the County Court ordered the sheriif to 
employ some person or persons, upon the best terms he could, to 
remove the logs and other timber at Mr. Black's for the purpose of 
building a magazine, to some convenient place where the town 
is to stand and there to be built for a courthouse." 

"And likewise to build a prison fourteen feet square, with square 
tiuiher, twelve inches each way, and a good shingle roo.f," with 
directions to line the side wall and under floor with two-inch plank, 
and put nine iron spikes in eacli plank, six inches long in lieu of a 
stone wall." 

Pursuant to this order, the sheriff of the county let the contract 
for the building of the county courthouse to Samuel Evans ; to 
Al)raham Goodpasture, the building of a prison: to G. Martin, the 
contract for making irons for criminals, and to Hugh Berry the 
contract for making the nails to be used in the l)uilding of the 
courthoiise 

The courthouse was built of logs and stood upon the lot occupied 
Ijy the present residence of Mrs. James W. Preston. The jail oi 
])rison (a fair description of which has been previously given) , stood 
on the lower end of the present courthouse lot, a short distance froui 
the street and north of the present courthouse. 

On the 30th day of x\pril, 1777, the County Court "ordered that 
Arthur Campbell, William Campbell, Daniel Smith, Joseph Mar- 
tin, William Edmiston, John ("oulter and Robert Craig, gents, 
be appointed trustees to dispose of the land given to the county 
by the Honorable Thomas Walker, Samuel Briggs and Joseph 



270 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

Black, and formerly laid off by Captain Eobert Doach, and that 
they or any four of them shall sell the same and apply th© money 
arising therefrom toward defraying the expenses of the publick 
buildings in tliis county." 

Pursuant to this order of the court, the trustees therein named 
employed John Coulter to lay off a part of the streets and alleys 
of the proposed town, which service he performed and reported to 
the court and received his pay therefor. 

The time when the new conrthouse was first occupied cannot 
be definitely fixed, but must have been in the year 1778, and the 
new prison was not used or occupied until the year 1779. 

On the same day the court directed David Campbell, clerk, to 
furnish blank books for keeping the public records, and ordered the 
sheriff' to summons twenty-four of the most capable freeholders to 
serve as a grand jury, which grand jury met on the 27th day of 
May, 1777, at Black's Fort, and made the following indictments — 
to-wit : 

Margaret Drummon for having a bastard child, and James 
Bryan for not having the road in good repair he was surveyor of. 
On the same day the court entered the following order : 

"Ordered that it be certified that it is the opinion of the court, 
that the field officers for Washington county be recommended to 
His Excellency the Governor, to be continued and be in the office 
they have been commissioned to by his Excellency, which appoint- 
ments are approved of by the court of this county. 

Major Anthony Bledsoe, upon his election as a member of the 
Legislature of Virginia, resigned his position as major of the forces 
stationed at Long Island and left for Richmond, and was suc- 
ceeded by Captain William Russell. 

Major Bledsoe and Captain Cocke expected, upon the assembling 
of the legislature at Richmond, to have the pleasure of displacing 
the militia officers of Washington county and filling their positions 
with their friends and partizans, and Colonel Campbell, as a means 
to disappoint Cocke and Bledsoe in the accomplishment of their 
purpose, had the preceding order entered by the court of this 
county, which action had the desired effect, and as a result of it 
Cocke and Bledsoe preferred charges against Colonel Campbell, 
which charges were heard and dismissed by the Governor and Coun- 
cil, in the same year. 



Washington County, 1717-1870. 271 

The Comity Court during this year, upon motion of James 
Dysart, sheriff of the county, permitted Joseph Black, James Eob- 
erts and John King, to qualify as deputy sheriffs for this county, 
and during the same year, permitted Eobert Campbell and John 
Campbell to qualify as deputy clerks for said county. 

During the early part of the year 1777, the court ordered the fol- 
lowing roads opened and established: "A road from James Kin- 
cannon's to William Kennedy's Mill, A road from Samuel Henry's 
up the South Fork of Holston, the way viewed by Eobert Buchanan, 
Alexander ]\IcNutt and Eobert Edmiston, pursuant to the order 
of the Fincastle court." 

And, "on motion, John Anderson, Gilbert Christian, James 
Elliott, James Fulkerson and William Eoberts, Avere appointed com- 
missioners to view a road from George Blackburn's by James Ful- 
kerson's to the forks of the path leading to Kentucky and the mouth 
of Eeedy creek." 

In the fall of this year, the following orders relating to the roads 
of the county, were entered : 

"Benjamin Gray and William Blackburn were appointed commis- 
sioners to view and locate a road from the courthouse to Shoate's 
Ford on Holston river on the 27th day of August, 1777, and the 
report of the viewers establishing this road was confirmed by the 
court on the 30th day of September, 1777. 

Josiah Gamble, Thomas Berry and Adam Keer were appointed 
commissioners to locate a road from the courthouse to' Philip's Mill, 
on the Watauga road, on the 27th of August, 1777 ; their report was 
confirmed and the road established on the 30th day of September, 
1777. 

William Bowen, David Ward, Eees Bowen and James Fowler 
were appointed commissioners to locate a road from the Eichlands 
1)y Maiden's Spring to the gap of the Laurel Fork of the nortli 
l)ranoh of Holston on the 30th day of September, 1777, and on 
the same day, John Finley, John Fowler and Abraham Crabtree 
were appointed commissioners to locate a road from said ga]) down 
the valley to tlie head of Fifteen-Mile creek and on to tlie court- 
house. 

On the same day, Albert McClure, Thomas IMcCulloch and 
Joseph ]\Iartin were appointed commissioners to view a road from 
the foot of Clinch mountain where James Logan lived to the gap 



273 Southwest Ylrglnki, 17J,6-178G. 

oi the moimtain opposite the head of Fifteen-Mile creek. Their 
report was received and confirmed on the 18th day of March, 1778. 

John Kinkead, Daniel Smith, Thomas Price and William Gil- 
mer were appointed commissioners to locate a road from the 
north side of Clinch monntain, over Clinch mountain, to Eol^ert 
and James Logan's and Ha]l)ert McClnre. Thomas IMcCnlloch and 
Joseph Martin were appointed commissioners to locate a road from 
the foot of Clinch mountain at James Logan's to the courthonse. 

William Casey, Robert Harrold and Samuel Staples were 
appointed commissioners on the 2Gth day of November, 1777, to 
locate a road from the month of Harrold's creek to the courthouse, 
and on the same day, Francis Cooper, John Dunkin and James 
Davis were appointed commissioners to locate a road from the 
North Fork of Holston to the Castle's Woods road through Little 
Moccasin Gap; this last road was established by order of the court on 
the 18th day of March, 1778. 

We give this information in regard to the roads estal)lislied in the 
year 1777, as it is always of interest to the citizens to know the 
time and circumstances attending the opening of our pul)lic roads. 

The State authorities in the month of October, 1777, made a 
requisition upon the authorities of Washington county foa- thirty- 
three men for the continental service, which requisition was 
promptly complied with. 

During the summei- of this year, all the western settlements were 
visited l^y numbers of Tories from the eastern portion of the State 
and from the disaffected portions of North Carolina, and were 
greatly t]-oul)led l)y their ])resence in this, that they usually joined 
themselves in bands and traveled about through the settlements, 
stealing liorses and rol)bing the Whig sympathizers ; and oftentimes, 
in accomplisliing their purposes, committed the offence of nuirder, 
and, from all appearances, in the fall of this year it looked as if they 
would be able to give the settlers a great deal of trouble, unless in 
some manher restrained. 

The people living on Holston undertook to restrain these Tory 
sympathizers l)y a resort to the courts and by inflicting the punish- 
ment prescribed by law, and, in so doing, Isaac Lebo, Jeremiah 
Slaughter and William Houston were indicted, tried and convicted 
for conduct and conversation evidencing a disposition inimical to 



Washington Couniij, 1777-1870. 273 

tlie cause of America. Their goods were confiscated and they were 
fined and imprisoned. 

The Britisli g-overnment liad spies scattered throughout tlie 
country, carrying messages between its officials and the Indians 
living to the south and west of the Holston settlements, and the 
situation was fast becoming exceedingly precarious. One of these 
spies was captured and punished l)y Colonel William Campbell and 
some of his friends, in this year, when Colonel Campbell was return- 
ing to his home from preaching, in company with his wife and two 
or three gentlemen. The circumstances were as follows : "When 
Colonel Cam]il)ell had gotten within a few miles of home, he dis- 
covered a man walking, with a little bundle on a stick thrown over 
his shoulder. When the man got Avithin some hundred and fifty 
yards of Cam])bell, he turned obliquely ofi' from the road. As soon 
as Campbell discovered this, he turned from the road in a direction 
to intercejit him. When the man discovered that he was about to 
he interce])ted by (*ampbell and his companions, he broke and ran 
with all his might towards the river. The pursuers galloped after 
him and as there was no ford there they jumped off of their 
horses and ran across the river and overtook their game in an ivy 
cleft. They carried him back to the road. When they got back 
several other men fell in company with them. The spy, as I will 
now call the man, Avas dressed very shabbily. Colonel Campbell 
asked him why he turned from the road. The spy appeared very 
silly and ofi^ered some flimsy excuse. Campbell propounded a great 
numy other questions to him. Tlie fellow pretended to have very 
little sense and said that he was a very poor man and w^as going 
to the back settlements Avhere there Avas plenty of land. From 
the many questions Campbell proposed to the spy he became per- 
fectly satisfied that he was a man of fine sense and under the dis- 
guise of a fool. Campljcll informed him that he believed him to 
be a man engaged in some vile service and he must be searched, 
to Avhich the spy had no objection. ITis bundle was searched, in 
which was found nothing but some old clothes. Campbell informed 
him he must pull off all the clothes he had on and put on the suit 
he had in his bundle. Tn his pocket they found a pass and some 
oilier old papers, all l)adly written. Every part of his clothing was 
cxamiiK'd very minutely, but nothing could he found. Campbell 
remarked to the s])y that he had a A^ery good pair of shoe>! on and 



274 Southwest Virginia, 17Ji6-17SG. 

he believed he would examine them. He took out his pocket knife 
and ripped off the bottom soles of the shoes, and under each of them 
he found a letter written by the British commander, addressed to 
the King of the Cherokee Indians. The letters were written on 
very fine paper and were enveloped in bladder so as to render them 
water-proof. The Indians were informed that the whites had 
rebelled against their king, that a large army had been sent against 
them, which would in a short time subdue them. The Indians 
were exhorted to send their warriors in every direction and harass 
the whites as much as possible. They were reminded of the injuries 
they had received from the whites and were told that as soon as the 
rebels were subdued, they would be amply remunerated for all the 
land that had been taken from them and for whatever other losses 
they had sustained from them. The letter wound up by recom- 
mending the bearer to the king as a man of sense and honesty and 
as one in whose counsels they should place implicit confidence. After 
the letters were read, a council was held and it was unanimously 
agreed that the spy should be hanged. Colonel Campbell informed 
the spy that he had but a short time to live and he had as well make 
a full and candid confession of everything connected with his trip. 
The spy said that he had been promised by the British commander 
a large sum of money to carry these letters to the Indians and to 
incite them to do all the mischief they could possibly accomplish. 
Soon after this confession the spy was taken Ijy Campbell and his 
companions and swung to a limb."* 

At the August term of the County Court of 1777, the situation 
had become so alarming that the court thought proper to require all 
the citizens of the county to take the oath of allegiance to the Com- 
monwealth and directed that George Blackburn tender the oath 
of allegiance to all free male inhabitants living in the bounds of 
Captain James Shelby's, liobert Craig's and Andrew Colvill's com- 
panies. 

James Montgomery to tender the oath to those living in his own 
and Captain John Shelby's companies. 

Arthur Campbell to tender the oath of allegiance to all in Cap- 
tain Edmiston's and Captain Dysart's companies. 

William Campbell to tender the oath of allegiance to those living 
in Captain Aaron Lewis's company. 



*Capt. John Redd's MSS. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 275 

John Snoddy, to those in his own and Captain Adam's compan3^ 
John CamjDbell, to those in his own and Captain John Camp- 
bell's companies at Eoyal Oak. 

John Kinkead in his own and Captain Dunkin's company. 

Daniel Smith, to those living from the upper part of Captain 
Dunkin's conqxmy to the county line, and to John Coulter was 
assigned the duty of tendering the oath of allegiance to all free male 
inhabitants in the bounds of Captain Gilbert Christian's company 
and Captain James Robertson's company at Watauga. 

The memliers of the County Court of Washington county were 
zealous Whigs and were so aggressive in the enforcement of their 
views, that it was with difficulty that a Tory could make his home 
anywhere within the bounds of this county without being prosecuted 
to the full extent of the law. A majority of these men did not 
recognize any distinction between an Indian who would scalp his 
wife and children and a man with a white skin who would lend 
his influence to a government that would offer every inducement 
to the Indian to murder and plunder the white settlers. 

Colonel William Campbell was particularly aggressive in his pro- 
secution of the Tories to^ be found within the county, and, by reason 
thereof, was the object of special hatred on their part. 

At this time there lived in Washington county two men by the 
names of Francis Hopkins and William Hopkins. Francis Hop- 
kins was a counterfeiter and, at the May term of the County Court 
in the year 1778, he was tried by the court on suspicion of his hav- 
ing counterfeited, erased and altered sundry treasury notes; the 
currency of this Commonwealth, knowing the same to be bad. He 
was found guilty, fined fifty dollars lawful money of Virginia, sen- 
tenced to six months in prison, and was ordered to be confined 
within the walls of the Fort at William Cocke's (now C. L. Clyce's), 
on T?enfro's creek, alias Spring creek, until the county gaol was 
completed. He was conveyed to Cocke's Fort, but, within a short 
time thereafter, made his escape and began a series of very bold 
and daring depredations upon the Whig settlers of the county. He 
organized a band of Tories, whose occupation was to steal the horses 
of the settlers and intimidate the citizens whenever possible. He 
went so far as to post notices at and near the home of Colonel Wil- 
liam Campbell, warning him that if he did not desist from his pro- 



276 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-n86. 

sedition of the loyal adherents of George III, a terrible calamity 
would befall him, either in the loss of his property or his life. 

"On a quiet and beautiful Sabbath in the spring time of the 
year 1780, General Campbell aceompaaiied by his wife (who was 
a sister of Patrick Henry), and several of their neighbors, attended 
a religious service at a Presbyterian house of worship known as 
Ebbing Spring Church in the upper end of this county. As they 
were returning to their homes they happened to be conversing about 
the audacity of the Tory who had been so bold and defiant in his 
declarations and was suspected of having posted these notices above 
referred to. Just as they arrived at the top of a hill, a short dis- 
tance west of the present residence of Colonel Hiram A. Greever, 
they observed a man on horseback on the opposite hill, coming 
towards them. General Campbell was riding beside his wife, with 
an infant on before him. One of them remarked that the individual 
meeting them was the Tory of whom they had been speaking, prob- 
ably now on a horse-stealing expedition, as he was observed to be 
carrying a rope halter in his hand. Hearing this. Colonel Campbell, 
without halting, handed the infant over to its mother and dashed 
out in front. Seeing the movement and recognizing the man whom 
he so much feared and hated, the Tory wheeled his horse and started 
back at quite a rapid gait, pursued at full speed by Colonel Camp- 
bell and one of the gentlemen of the company, whose name was 
Thompson. Never, it may be presumed, either before or since, has 
such a dashing and exciting race been witnessed upon that long 
level between the residences of Colonels Greever and Beattie. As 
they reached the branch at the base of the hill a little west of Colonel 
Beattie's, Colonel Campbell dashed up alongside the fleeing Tory, 
who, seeing that he would be caught, turned short to the right down 
the bank and plunged into the river. As he struck the water, 
Colonel Campbell, who had left his companion in the rear, leaped in 
beside him, grasped the Tory's holsters and threw them into the 
stream, and then dragged him from his horse into the water. 

At this moment Mr. Thompson rode up. They took their prisoner 
out on the bank and held what may be termed a drum-head court. 
The Tory, who, bad as he was, had the virtue of being a brave, can- 
did man, at once acknowledged the truth of the charge preferred 
against him and boldly declared his defiance and determination to 
take horses wherever he could find them. But he was mistaken in 
his man, for in less than ten minutes he was dangling from the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 277 

limb of a large sycamore that stood upon the bank of the river, the 
stump of which was to be seen a few years ago, and may be there 
yet for aught the writer knows.* 

After the sudden taking off of Francis Hopkins, as above detailed, 
William Hopkins continued his depredations upon the Whig settlers 
and resorted to arms, for which offence he also was arrested in the 
year 1779 and committed to the gaol of this county for trial, but 
escaped therefrom, whereupon, the court entered the following order 
on the 16th day of June, 1779 : 

"Washington couhty ss. On motion of Ephraim Dunlop, Deputy 
Attorney for the Commonwealth, that the estate of William Hop- 
kins, who had been taken and committed to the gaol of this county 
for treasonable practices against the United States of America, in 
taking up arms under the British Standard and who had broken the 
gaol and escaped, be sold and the money deposited in the treasury, it 
appearing to the court that the said Hopkins has no family, and 
that he has no stated place of abode, 

"Ordered that the sheriff seize and sell all the estate of the said 
Hopkins which shall be found in his bailiwick and that he keep 
the money accruing from such sale in his hands until the General 
Assembly shall determine how the said money is to be expended." 

Ordered that the clerk of the court transmit this order to the 
Speaker of the House of Delegates at the next session of the 
Assembly. 

The good citizens of the county organized themselves into bands 
called "Regulators," and patrol ed the county and meted out pun- 
ishment to the offenders according to the enormity of their conduct. 
The citizens, following the example of their leaders, adopted, in 
dealing with Tory sympathizers, measures of such a character that 
this county was comparatively free from Tory influences dviring the 
entire war, and numbered among her citizens only such persons as 
were willing and ready to offer their lives and property as a sacri- 
fice on the altar of their country. And so strong and healthy was 
the Whig settlement in this county, in the years 1778-1779, that 
numbers of our citizens were called upon to assist in suppressing 
an uprising of the Tory sympathizers in the county of Montgomery. 

The mode of procedure adopted by our Eevolutionary fathers, in 
dealing with this matter, may not meet with the approval of some 



*Charle3 B. Coale. 



278 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

at this day, but it is evident to the student of our history, that the 
methods used were the most effective in dealing with the unprin- 
cipled men who had chosen, with the assistance of the Indians, to 
commit all manner of depredations and outrages upon the frontier 
settlements. 

In the county of Montgomery, persuasion and good treatment 
were used on this character of citizens and resulted in what might 
be termed an insurrection, a deplorable state of affairs that could 
not be remedied without the assistance of the patriots of Washing- 
ton county and the application of their methods in the premises. 

In Washington county stern justice was meted out speedily and 
effectively, to all violators of the law, which policy was approved by 
the body politic and had the desired effect. 

In the month of July, 1777, the G-overnment of Virginia decided 
to appoint a superintendent or Indian Agent for the Cherokee 
Indians, which position was conferred upon Captain Joseph Mar- 
tin, and the agency was located at the Long Island in Holston 
river. Captain Martin, upon his appointment as Indian Agent, 
proceeded to build a large store house on the island, for the purpose 
of depositing such goods as the government might send out for the 
Indians and for the accommodation of the Indians when at Long 
Island on business with the Indian Agent. 

Daniel Boone, in March, 1775, undertook to mark out for a num- 
ber of North Carolina gentlemen a road from Watauga, Tennessee, 
through the wilderness to Kentucky, which he did. The road 
marked out by Boone, at this time, was from the Watauga settle- 
ment near Elizabethton (Tennessee), to the Cumberland Gap, and, 
from the Gap, it followed the Indian trace known as "the War- 
rior's Path," about fifty miles, where it left the "Warrior's Path," 
bearing to the west to the "Hazel Patch" and to Eock Castle river. 
From Eock Castle river the road passed through the present county 
of Madison (Kentucky) and on to the Kentucky river, at the moutli 
of Otter creek. About one mile below the miouth of this creek, 
Boone established headquarters and erected a fort, and called it 
Boonesborough. Boone was followed by a large company in charge 
of Eichard Henderson, who claimed to own all the lands between 
the Ohio and the Cumberland rivers, by purchase from the Chero- 
kee Indians, to which country he had given the name of Transyl- 
vania. Benjamin Logan with a company of men from the Wolf Hills, 



Washington Counttj, 1777-1870. 379 

(now Abingdon), joined Colonel Henderson in Powell's Valley, and 
the two companies traveled together as far as Eockcastle river in 
Kentucky, where Logan, not approving of Colonel Henderson's pre- 
tensions or plans, left Henderson and traveled westwardly in the 
direction of the Crab Orchard, and when he had reached the level 
land he halted and built a fort which he called "Logan's Fort." 

In this year, a large number of emigrants began to travel into 
Kentucky, seeking homes, and, by the month of July, a considerable 
body of people had gathered at Boone's Fort and Logan's Fort. 

On the 4th day of July, 1777, one hundred Indians appeared 
before Logan's Fort and laid siege to it, which siege continued 
until the month of September. When the siege had lasted fo^r 
some time. Captain Benjamin Logan, with a number of friends, 
slipped out of the fort by night and began an exceedingly hard and 
dangerous trip to the settlements on Holston, to procure supplies for 
the fort and reinforcements against the Indians. They traveled by 
night and lay by during the day; but, finally reaching the Holston 
at Wolf Hills, they secured powder and the assistance of forty rifle- 
men, and returned to the fort within ten days. 

The riftemen from the Holston settlemients were under the 
counnand of Colonel elohn Bowman. Many of the men who went 
to the rescue of their relatives and fellow-citizens in Kentucky at 
this time subsequently made their homes in Kentucky, and Ben- 
jamin Logan became a great man in the new State. 

The road thus marked by Daniel Boone and Benjamin Logan 
continued to be the passageway of many hundreds of settlers and 
emigrants on their way to Kentucky until the year 1781, although 
it was nothing more than a mere path or trace. 

By the year 1779 great numbers of people were emigrating to 
and settling to the westward of the Cumberland mountains. In 
this year the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act for mark- 
ing and opening a road over the Cumberland mountains into the 
county of Kentucky. The act in question appointed Evan Shelby 
and Richard Calloway commissioners to explore the country adja- 
cent to and on both sides of the Cumberland mountains, and to 
trace and mark the most convenient road from the settlements o-n 
the east side of the mountains over the same into the open coun- 
try into the county of Kentucky, and to cause such road, with all 
convenient dispatch to be opened and cleared in such manner as 



280 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

to give passage to travelers with pack-horses for the. present, and to 
report to the next session of the Assembly the distance, the prac- 
ticability and the cost of completing and making the same a good 
wagon road. The act further provided that should the said Evan 
Shelby or Eichard Calloway refuse or he unable to act, then the 
County Court of their residence should appoint his or their succes- 
sor. It provided also that a guard of not more than fifty men from 
the county most convenient should attend said commissioners while 
locating this road. 

Colonel Evan Shelby declined to act as commissioner, pursuant 
to the act of the Assembly above mentioned, and the County Court 
of Washington county, in which he lived, on June 20, 1780, en- 
tered the following order : 

"Ordered that Captain John Kinkead be appointed in the room 
of Colonel Evan Shelby, who has refused to act agreeably to the 
Act of Assembly for marking and opening a road over the Cum- 
berland mountains into the coimty of Kentucke." 

This appointment Captain Kinlcead accepted, and, along with 
Captain Calloway, effected the opening of a road through the 
Cumberland mountains to Kentucky, and on the first day of De- 
cember, 1781, a petition of John Kinkead was presented toi the 
General Assembly of Virginia "setting forth that agreeably to ap- 
pointment of the County Court of Washington he, in conjunction 
with the other commissioner, proceeded to and effected the open- 
ing of a road through the Cumberland mountains to Kentucky, 
and praying to be paid for the service." 

The road thus located by Captains Kinkead and Calloway, be- 
came what was known as the "Wilderness Eoad," and for twenty 
years subsequent thereto was the principal highway traveled by 
an immense train of emigrants to the West. This road passed 
through Abingdon, and that the present generation may be able 
to locate this road, I give the stopping points, with the distances 
between, along the road from Inglis' Ferry at New river to Cum- 
berland Gap : 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 281 

Miles. Miles. 

*From. Hand's Meadow to To Moccasin Gap 5 

Inglis' Ferry at New Eiver 12 To Clinch Elver 11 

To Fort Chiswell 30 To Ford Stock Creek 2 

To Atkins' Ordinary 19 To Little Flat Lick 5 

To Mid. Fork Holston. . . — To North Fork Clinch 1 

To Cross White's, Mont- To Powell's Mountain 1 

gomery 3 To Wallen's Eidge'. 5 

To Col. Arthur Campbell's 3 To Valley Station 5 

To 7-mile Ford of Holston G To Powell's Eiver 2 

To Major Dysart's Mill.. 12 To Glade Spring 4 

To Washington Courthouse 10 To Martin's Station 19 

To Head Eeedy Creek, Sul- To Big Spring 12 

livan county, N. C 20 To Cumberland Mountain 

To Block House 13 Gap 8 

To North Fork of Holston 2 

Thomas Speed traveled this same route in the year 1790, and 
gives the names of the stopping points with the distances between : 



Miles. 

IngHs' Ferry " 20 

To Carter's 13 

To Fort Chiswell 12 

To the Stone MilL 11 

To Adkins' 16 

To Eussell Place 16 

To Greenwa/s 14 

To Washington Co. House 6 
To the Block House 35 



Miles. 

To Farriss's 5 

To Clinch Eiver 13 

To Scott's Station 12 

To Cox's at Powell's Eiver 10 

To Martin's Station 2 

To ■ 

To Cumberland Mountain 3 
To Cumberland Eiver. ... 15 



At this time five ferries were maintained across New river in 
Southwest Virginia by land owners, to-wit: William Inglis, 
Samuel Pepper, Cornelius Brown, Thomas Herbert and Austin & 
Co., for the accommodation of travelers and emigrants, and the 
General Assembly fixed the toll at four cents for each man and 
four cents for each horse ferried. 

Chief-Justice Eohertson, of Kentucky, in speaking of the land 
law enacted for Kentucky by the General Assembly of Virginia 



*Wm. Brown's MSS. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 283 

in the year 1779, and of the emigration which took place in that 
year, used the following language : 

"This beneficent enactment brought to the country during the 
fall and winter of that year an unexampled tide of emigrants, who, 
exchanging all the comforts of their native society and homes for 
settlements for themselves and children here, came, like pilgrims, 
to a wilderness to be made secure by their arms and habitable by 
the toil of their lives. Through privations incredible and perils 
thick, thousand^ of men, women and children came in successive 
caravans, forming continuous streams of human beings, horses, 
cattle and other domestic animals, all moving onward along a 
lonely and houseless path to a wild and cheerless land. Cast your 
eyes back on that long procession of missionaries in the cause of 
civilization; behold the men on foot with their trusty guns on their 
shoulders, driving stock and leading pack-horses; and the women, 
some walking with pails on their heads, others riding with chil- 
dren in their laps, and other children hung in baskets on horses, 
fastened to the tails of others going before; see them encamped 
at night expecting to be massacred by Indians; behold them in 
the month of December, in that ever memorable season of unpre- 
cedented cold called the "hard winter," traveling two or three 
miles a day, frequently in danger of being frozen or killed by the 
falling of horses on the icy and almost impassable trace, and sub- 
sisting on stinted allowances of stale bread and meat ; but now, 
lastly, look at them at the destined fort, perhaps on the eve ol 
Merry Christmas, when met by the hearty welcome of friends who 
had come before, and, cheered by the fresh buffalo meat and 
parched corn, they rejoice at their deliverance and resolve to be 
contented with their lot." 

It was by this route and in this manner that many of our citi- 
zens traveled to their new homes in Kentucky and throughout the 
West, and it was for the protection of travelers on this route that 
the county officials of Washington county, Virginia, expended a 
great deal of effort and money, the Indians, for many years sub- 
sequent to 1775, waylaying this route, murdering the emigrants 
and stealing their horses and plunder. 

The ministers of the Gospel, being Presbyterian in belief, kept 
step with the advance of the settlers upon the frontiers. The set- 
tlements had scarcely reached the vicinity of Jonesboro, Tennes- 



284 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

see, when Eov. Samuol Doak, a Presbyterian minister, who had 
been educated at Princeton, with great energy and with a deter- 
mination to make his home on the frontiers, appeared \\\xm the 
scene, after having walked tJirough ^Taryhind and Virginia, driv- 
ing before him a horse loaded with books. He was greatly appre- 
ciated by the people among whom he had cast his lot, and he, in 
turn, exercised a wonderful inflnence npon tJie early sottUMs of 
East Tennessee. 

In this year, 1777, through the inflnence of "this preacher, a 
Presbyterian log cluiri*h was erected near Jonesboro, Tennessee, 
to which was given the name of "Salem Chnrch." Near this 
cluirch soon thewafter he erected a school-house which afterwards 
became Washington College, this churcli and st-liool being the 
first erected in the State of Tennessee. 

On the 2Gth day of November, 1777, the county court of this 
county proceeded to make a statement of the county levy for the 
year 1777. which statement was as follows: 

"To Abraham Ooodj)asture, for building the 

prison, £450 

To Samuel Evans, for building a house to hold 

court in. 
To John Coulter f<u- laying off the lots of the 

town, 

To Clerk for ex officio services, Tobacco, 1,000 lbs. 

To Clerk, for public services, Tobacco, l,oOO lbs. 

To a blank record book and alphabet £5 

To carriage for do. from Williamsburg, 7s. 6d. 

To Wm. Young, for old Wolf TTead, 
To the Sheriff, for ex officio services. 

To Sheriif, for w^holo of his public services Tobacco, 13,000 lbs. 

To building of pillory and stocks. 

By 890 tithables, at 8s., £35G 

To Hugh Berry, for making 1,7(50 nails for 

courthouse roof, £5 

To G. Martin, for making irons for criminals. 

From an inspection of this county levy, it will be seen that our 
first county government was very frugal and economical. ]\fany 
readers will not understand how it was that a part of the county 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 285 

expenses was paid in tobacco. The explanation is that, in those 
early days, money was exceedingly scarce, and the House of Bur- 
gesses of Virginia, as early as the year 1772, enacted a law per- 
juitting the inhabitants of this section of Virginia to discharge 
all secretaries', clerks' and other officers' fees in tobacco at the rate 
of eight shillings and four pence for every hundredweight of gross 
tobacco. And this law remained in force for a decade thereafter. 

The Governor of Virginia, on the 23d day of July, 1777, issued 
a new commission of the peace and dedimus for this county, 
directed to 

Arthur Campbell, Evan Shelby, 

William Campbell, Daniel Smith, 

William Edmiston, John Campbell, 

Joseph Martin, Alexander Buchanan, 

James Dysart, Jolm Kinkead, 

John Anderson, James Montgomery, 

John Coulter, John Snoddy, 

George Blackburn, Thomas Mastin, 

Isaac Shelby, Eobert Craig, 

John Dunkin, John Adair, 

Gilbert Christian, Thomas Caldwell, 

and, on the 25th day of November, 1777, this commission was 
produced and read, and, thereupon, pursuant fo' the said dedimus, 
the said Arthur Campbell took the oath of a justice of the peace 
and a justice of the County Court in chancery, all of which oaths 
were administered to him by John Kinkead. Thereupon, the said 
Arthur Campbell administered the same oaths to : 

John Kinkead, James Montgomery, 

John Coulter, Eobert Craig, 

John Dunkin, 

and thus was constituted the second County Court for Washington 
county. 

In the fall of this year, General George Kogers Clark traveled 
from Kentucky over the "Wilderness Eoad," on his way to Eich- 
mond, in company with a young lawyer by the name of John 
Gabriel Jones, and reached Mump's Fort in Powell's Valley about 
ten days subsequent to the killing, by the Indians, of a settler by the 



286 Southtvest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

name of Parks. In traveling through tJiis portion of Virginia, 
he usually stopped at the nearest house when dark overtook him, 
for which he usually paid, at the small cabins, a shilling and six- 
pence for breakfast, bed and feed for horse. On his way he became 
acquainted with Captain William Campbell, whom he found a very 
agreeable companion. 

The object of this journey to Eiehmond on the part of General 
Clark was to secure the approval of the Governor of a plan that he 
then conceived to be feasible and that would be of great value to 
the American Colonies. He sought the consent and assistance of 
the Governor in equipping and carrying on an expedition against 
the British, posts at Vincennes and Kaskaskia in the Illinois county ; 
and tlicre can be but little doubt that he discussed this question 
with Captain Campbell, at the time of his visit to Holston. 

He succeeded in obtaining the consent and authority of the 
Governor to enlist three hundred and fifty men from the counties 
west of the Alleghany mountains, to be used upon this expedition, 
of which number four companies were to be raised in the Holston 
and Clinch settlements, and Major W. B. Smitli was dispatched, 
in the year 1778, to recruit men for that service in this section. 

There seems to be a conflict among historians as to the number 
of men raised in this section by Major Smith for this service, one 
giving the number as amounting to four companies; another, as 
one company. 

The men recriiited for this service were not informed of the pur- 
pose for which they were intended, until tliey had reached the falls 
of the Ohio (now Louisville). 

The company of recruits from the Holston settlements did not 
suppose, when they entered the service, that they were to be taken 
upon such a long and dangerous expedition, and when they were 
informed of the purpose for which they were to be used, they 
objected to proceeding any further and left the camp of General 
Clark and returned to their homes. This is the one disagreeable 
circumstance connected with the history of our people. These men 
were recruited from a country where the people were brave and 
adventurous, and it is hard to account for their conduct upon this 
occasion. We are sorry to state that, by their conduct, they deprived 
this portion of Virginia of the honor of sharing in the wonderfiil 
expedition and conquests of General Clark. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 387 

While the company, as a whole, refused to go upon this expedi- 
tion, a few of the men joined othei- companies and took part in the 
expedition; and their names, so far as I have been able to gather 
them, are as follows : 

Low Brown, John Lasly, 

Solomon Stratton, Xealy McGuire, 

William Peery. 

Supplies for this expedition were purchased upon the Holston, 
as is evidenced by an order of the court entered on the 17th day of 
March, 1779, which order is as follows: 

"'Whereas twentj^-six forty dollar bills were found in the pos- 
session of Captain Thomas Quirk, and, on the examination of the 
court of Washington county, were supposed to be counterfeit, the 
said Captain Quirk delivered the said bills to the sheriff in the 
presence of the court, and it appears by the oath of the said 
Thomas Quirk and Andrew Colvill that the said Thomas Quirk 
received these bills of James Buchanan, commissary for the Illi- 
nois service, to purchase bacon. Whereupon, it is ordered that the 
sheriff take or send the said bills to the Board of Auditors for 
further proceedings, according to law. A list of the bills is given, 
which bills are signed l)y D. Summers and G. Brown and dated 
April 11, 1778." 

At the election held for Washington county in the spring of 
the year 1778, Arthur Campbell and Anthony Bledsoe were 
elected members of the House of Delegates, and William Fleming, 
of Botetourt, a member of the Senate, in the General Assembly 
of Virginia. 

In the spring of this year, Captain James Dysart and Lieutenant 
Samuel Newell were placed in command of two companies of mili- 
tia to range, during the summer, along the frontiers in Powell's 
and Clinch Valleys, as a protection against the Indians. Early in 
the month of May, before the departure of these ranging parties, 
a man by the name of Whitesides, a large, active man, left his 
home near Elk Garden Fort for Glade Hollow Fort, where he had 
a horse running on the range. While hunting for his horse about 
two miles from Glarle Hollow Fort, he was captured by nine 
Indians, who pinioned his arms back, loaded him with their extra 
plunder and some meat cut from the carcass of a dead horse, and 



288 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

in this manner skulked about for several days, watching for an 
opportunity to attack Glade Hollow Fort, which was in a wretched 
state of defence, seven men only being in the fort.* 

These men were engaged daily in bringing salt-petre dust from 
a cave at some distance from the fort, to make salt-petre, upon the 
discovery of which, the Indians resolved to take the fort the next 
time the men went out. 

They tied Whitesides' feet and left an Indian to guard him, 
while the others sought a more convenient place to attack the fort 
when occasion offered. 

In the meantime the Indian who had charge of Whitesides, 
thinking they were too much exposed to view, untied his feet and 
made him creep further into the brush and, laying down his gun, 
sat down before Whitesides to tie his feet again. At that moment, 
Whitesides seized the gun, and, although his arms were pinioned, 
gave the Indian such a blow over the head as broke the gun to 
pieces and felled the Indian to the ground and, perhaps, killed him. 
Whitesides then sprang to his feet and gave the alarm to the men 
near the fort, who ran back to the fort with all speed, but 
Whitesides ran past the fort towards the Elk Garden fort, 
carrying all the Indian's plunder on his back. The eight 
Indians who were waylaying the fort, hearing the alarm, 
ran back, and finding their companion, perhaps lifeless, pur- 
sued Whitesides; and while doing so, met about forty men in 
plain view of the fort, on their way to act as rangers; on 
whom the Indians fired and killed two. The rest fled ingloriously, 
each one in his way, spreading the alarm that the fort was taken. 
Upon receipt of this news at Black's Fort, Captain Samuel Newell, 
with eighteen men set off foT Glade Hollow Fort. They ran 
about twelve miles that evening and waded the North Fork of 
Ilolston just before night, but were forced to stop when night set 
in, as they had no trace they could follow in the night, and, in 
many places the weeds and grass were waist high. They arrived in 
view of the fort next morning between eight and nine o'clock, and 
upon reconnoitering, found the fort had not been taken. When the 
occupants of the fort saw them, they ran out to meet them. The 
next day. Captain James Dysart, with eighteen men, arrived at the 
fort. 



*Beniainin Sharp Letter, American Pioneer. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 289 

During the same year, in the lower end of this county, a yo'ung 
man by the name of Fulkerson was killed when driving up his horses 
from the range, and Thomas Sharp was fired at and badly wounded, 
but, being on horseback, he made his escape and recovered from 
his wounds. Jacob Fulkerson and a young man by the name of 
Callahan were both killed this year, while hunting their cattle in 
the range. 

On the 23d day of April, 1778, tlie court entered the following 
order : 

"Ordered tlmt Colonel William Campbell be appointed to dis- 
tribute the county salt to the most necessitous of the frontier 
inhabitants of Clinch and the lower settlements of Washington 
county below the mouth of the North Fork, such a quantity 
reserving as he shall judge sufficient for the militia on duty, also 
selling at such rate as will be sufficient to discharge the first cost 
and expenses." 

"Ordered that Isaac Lebo be permitted to go towards the Mora- 
vian Town for salt, and that he return within the term of three 
weeks." 

Isaac Lebo is one of the same men that had, previously to this 
time, been arrested, tried and convicted O'f treasonable practices 
against the Commonwealth, and this, no doubt, was an excuse 
offered by him for an opportunity to communicate with his Tory 
friends in the South. 

On the 21st day of May, 1778, Samuel ISTewell qualified as Deputy 
Sheriff for the county and gave and filed a bond for the due col- 
lection and accounting for the taxes of the county of Washington, 
and entered upon his duties as first tax collector for the county, 
under the law of Virginia. It was the duty of the County Court 
to recommend to the Governor the names of the three magistrates 
named first in the Commission of Peace, from which list the Gov- 
ernor commissioned a sheriff for the county, and on the 20th day 
of April, 1778, the court recommended Arthur Campbell, William 
Campbell and Daniel Smith as fit and proper persons to execute 
the office of sheriff for the county of Washington. From this list 
the Governor commissioned Arthur Campbell as sheriff of the 
county, and he qualified as such on the 16th day of February, 1779, 
with Evan Shelby, Andrew Willoughby and Andrew Kincannon 
as his securities. During this and the succeeding year, the follow- 



290 Southwest Yirginia, 1746-1786. 

ing gentlemen qualified as deputy sheriffs of the county; Samuel 
Newell, Christopher Acklin and Alexander Donaldson. 

At the March court 1779, Harry Innes and Eowland Madison 
qualified to practice law in the courts of the county. Harry Innes 
afterwards moved to the county of Kentucky, where he became 
distinguished in the annals of that State. At the same term of 
the court, Daniel Smith, Robert Craig and John Campbell were 
appointed commissioners of the tax, the land owners having failed 
to attend and elect commissioners. At this term of the court, David 
Campbell resigned his position as Clerk of the Court, and John 
Campbell was appointed to succeed him, which position he occupied 
until the year 1824, during which time he faithfully discharged 
his duties and retained the respect and confidence of the people of 
this county. David Campbell, who resigned his position as Clerk 
of the Court on the 15th day of August, 1780, obtained a commis- 
sion from His Excellency, Thomas Jefferson, appointing him attor- 
ney-at-law, and qualified as such in the court of this county, but, 
soon thereafter, he removed to Campbell's Station, Tennessee, in 
whicli State he won distinction in his profession and became the 
first Chief Justice of that State. 

From the orders of the court at this term, it appears that Samuel 
Evans had not completed the courthouse, ])ursuant to contract, and 
Joseph Black was directed to agree with Evans as to the amount 
he should receive for the work that he had done upon the court- 
house; and the sheriff was directed to agree with some person to 
finish the courthouse. 

At the April term of this court, a statement of the county levy 
was made for the year 1779, which is as follows: 

"Ephraim Dunlop, for services as State's Attorney for the 

year 1777 and for the year 1778, £300.00 

Abraham Goodpasture, for building prison, 500.00 

Samuel Evans, for building courthouse, 100.00 

Abraham Goodpasture, finishing courthouse, 100.00 

Arthur Campbell, for three blank books for the Clerk,. . 15.00 

To do. for the body of the law for use of the Court, 5. 

To do. for cash paid Hugh Berry, nails courthouse, 5. 

To do. for 60 lbs. iron furnished for nails courthouse, .... 5. 

To window glass for courthouse, 12 lights @ 9s., 5.8 

To do. for ex officio services for 1777-1778, 15.0 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 



291 



Allowed for pillory and stocks, 75.0 

By 1404 tithables @ 15s. per titliable, 1,098.9 

At this same court the following order was entered : 
"Ordered that the main road be cnt according to report of 
Joseph Black, Andrew Colvill and James Piper, viewers from 
the conrthouse to tl)e Twenty-Mile creek, and that Andrew Colvill 
be surveyor froni the courthouse to the west side of Spring creek, 
and that tlie titliablos formerly ordered work upon the same." 




The Pillory — Used in this Section in the Early Days. 

The road was opened pursuant to this order, the location of 
which was about the same as that of the present road from Abing- 
don to Papersville, Tennessee. 

At the May term of court, 1779, the Attorney for the Common- 
wealth filed an information against John Yancy, a citizea and hotel 
keeper, living in the town of Abingdon, charging him with the 
offence of enclosing his sheep in the courthouse, upon which inform- 
ation divers witnesses were sworn and examined, and the defendant 
heard in his defence, whereupon, the court fined the defendant 
twenty shillings and the costs. 

At the same court, the prison erected by Abraham Goodpasture 
was, by order of the court, used, but not received. On the same 
day the court entered the following order : 

"Ordered that David Carson and Joseph. Black lay off the prison 



292 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

l)oii]i(ls, excooding five acres and not more than ten, and take in the 
watcM", and David Carson was paid six pounds for his services." 
On the 19th day of August the court entered the following order: 
"Ordered that Arthur Campbell, Anthony Bledsoe, Daniel Smith, 
Joseph Black and John Blackamore be appointed examiners of the 
bills of credit of this State and the other United States, agreeably 
to the act of the Asseml)ly entitled "An Act for more effectually 
guarding against counterfeiting of the Bills of Credit, Treasury 
Notes and Loan Office certificates." 

In the early summer of this year, the Tories living near the head 
of the Yadkin river. North Carolina, and on New river and Walk- 
er's creek in Montgomery county, Virginia, began to form into a 
l)ody, with the intention of destroying the Lead Mines on New 
river, robbing the well affected citizens of that county, and then 
forcing their way to the headquarters of Lord Cornwallis, who was 
at that time in the Carolinas. There was every prospect that an 
insurrection would take place, and, notwithstanding the untiring 
efforts of Colonel William Preston, the county-lieutenant of that 
county, he was unable to quiet the disaffected, or to protect the well- 
disposed citizens. As a last resort Colonel Preston called upon the 
officials of Washington county for assistance, when Captain William 
Campbell, with about one hundred and fifty militia from this 
county, all well mounted, turned out and proceeded to suppress this, 
a new kind of enemy to^ the people of Washington county. The 
name of Captain Campbell was such as to strike consternation into 
the rank of the Tories, who dispersed upon his approach and 
offered no open resistance. The militia from this county were then 
dispatched in small detachments and had active business for several 
weeks pursuing, taking and imprisoning Tories. The militia sub- 
sisted themselves and their horses upon the grain and stock of the 
Tories, and compelled all Tory sympathizers who were old and unfit 
for service to give security for their good behavior, or to go to 
jail. The yoimg, effective men were pardoned on condition of their 
serving as faithful soldiers in the armies of the United States 
during the war, as an atonement for their crime. Colonel Camp- 
bell and his men saw hard and active duty during this time, but 
lost no lives nor had any of their men wounded. 

Captain Campl)ell and his militia from this county were ably 
seconded in their efforts to suppress the Tory sentiment then exist- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 293 

ing in JMontgomery, by Colonel Walter Crockett, Captain Charles 
Lynch, Captain Kobert Sayers and Captain Isaac Campbell. Cap- 
tains Sayers and Campbell each commanded a company of men 
numbering twenty-eight and thirty-five respectively, at this time, 
and were not satisfied with a suppression of the Tories in Mont- 
gomery county, but thereafter proceeded to perform the same 
service in parts of Surrey and Wilkes counties, North Carolina. 

Captain Campbell and his men, in dealing with the Tories of 
Montgomery county, applied the same methods used so effectively 
in Washington county, of Avhich we give one instance, that the 
reader may understand the methods used. 

"There is a beautiful little valley known by the name of "Black 
Lick," nestling among the mountains of Wythe county, which, 
being remote from highways and environed by uninhabited forests, 
afforded shelter for a number of Tories, who made frequent forays 
upon the neighboring settlements and then concealed themselves in 
this remote and quiet retreat. Their hiding place becoming dis- 
covered. General Campbell's men surrounded it, captured about a 
dozen and hung them upon two white oaks which, spared by the 
woodman's ax for the righteous office they had performed, were 
still standing a few years ago, and were long known by the name 
of the "Tory Trees."* 

At the time in question. Captain Charles Lynch, of Bedford 
county, was manager for the Commonwealth at the Lead Mines on 
Xew river, and, as a result of the visit of Captain Campbell to 
Montgomery county in this year, he thereafter adopted Campbell's 
method of dealing with Tories and wrong-doers ; and, ever after, 
during the war, when any of the inhabitants were suspected of 
wrong doing or treasonable conduct, they were dealt witli accord- 
ing to what was termed "Captain Lynch 's Law," and from this man 
and this occasion originated the term "Lynch Law," as it is prac- 
tised throughout the nation, under peculiar circumstances, at this 
day. 

Upon the return of Captain Campbell and his men from Mont- 
gomery county, considerable complaint was made by the Tory inhab- 
itants of that section of Virginia, and efforts were made to prose- 
cute Campliell and his associates, but the Legislature of Virginia, 
recognizing the valuable services of these patriots, in October of 



*Chas. B. Coale. 



294 Southwest Virginia, 174G-17S6. 

that year passed an Act exempting them fmm all pains and pen- 
alties by reason of their acts, which Act of the Assembly is as 
follows : 

"Whereas divers evil-disposed persons on the frontiers of this 
Commonwealth had liroken out into an open insurrection and co^n- 
spiracy and actually levied war against the Commonwealth, and it is 
represented to the present General Assembly that William Camp- 
bell, Walter Crockett and other liege subjects of the Common- 
wealth, aided by detachments of the militia and volunteers from the 
county of Washington and other parties of the frontiers did by their 
timely and effectual exertion suppress and defeat such conspiracy; 
and whereas the necessary measures taken for that purpose may not 
be strictly warranted by law, although justifiable from the imme- 
diate urgency and imminences of the danger; be it therefore 
declared and enacted, That the said William Campbell, Walter 
Crockett and all other persons whatsoever concerned in suppressing 
the said conspiracy and insurrection, or in advising, issuing or 
executing any orders or measures taken for that purpose stand 
indemnified and clearly exonerated of and from all pains, penalties, 
prosecutions, actions, suits and damages on account thereof ; and 
that if any indictment, prosecution, action or suit shall be laid or 
brought against them, or any of them, for any act or thing 
done therein, the defendant or defendants may plead in 1)ar, or the 
general issue, and give this act in evidence."* 

In the summer of this 3'ear, at the instigation of British agents, 
Dragging Canoe and his l^and of Indians, living at Chickamauga, 
were induced to undertake a campaign against the A^irginia and 
Carolina frontiers. While making preparations for the campaign, 
James Robertson, who Avas then at Chote, received information of 
their intended invasion and immediately informed the leaders on 
the Holston. Upon the receipt of this information it Avas decided 
that the militia of the two governments should unite, and carry 
on an active expedition against these Indians. Colonel Evan 
Shelby, of Sapling Grove (now Bristol), was selected to command 
the expedition. The forces from the two States assembled at the 
month of Big Creek on the Clinch river (near Eogersville, Ten- 
nessee), on April 10, 1779, Captain Isaac Shelby being in command 
of the forces from Washington county, Virginia. At this point the 



*10 Hening Statixtes, page 195. 



Washington County, 1111-1810. 395 

entire army, consisting of several hundred men, volimteers from the 
settlements, and a regiment of twelve-months' men, under the com- 
mand of Captain John Montgomery, intended as a reinforcement 
to General Clark in the Illinois, temporarily diverted from that 
object for use in this campaign, embarked in canoes and boats, and 
descended the Tennessee river to the home of the Chickamoggas. 
The Indians were completely taken by surprise and fled in all 
directions to the hills and mountains, not offering any resistance. 
Forty Indians, at least, were killed, and their towns were destroyed, 
their horses and cattle driven away, and their corn and prO'visions, 
as well as twenty thousand pounds in value of stores and goods, 
carried off. Thereupon, the troops destroyed their boats and canoes 
and returned to their homes on foot. Thus it was that one of the 
clierislied hopes of the British ministry was foiled and the prospects 
of the Colonies exceedingly enhanced. 

Colonel Shelby, while making preparations to conduct this expe- 
dition against the Indians at Chickamogga, dispatched John Dong- 
lass to the settlements on Clinch river, pursuant to the orders of 
Colonel Kussell, hut Douglas was waylaid and killed by the Indians 
and his horse ridden off. 

When the expedition against the Chickamogga Indians was 
decided upon. Colonel Evan Shelby dispatched John Hutson to the 
Indian town with letters to Colonel Joseph Martin, advising him 
to remove from the Indian country to the Great Island, agreeably 
to the Governor's instructions, but, unfortunately, Hutson was 
drowned in the execution of that business, and his widow, Eleanor 
Hutson was allowed by the General Assembly at its fall session in 
the year 1779, the sum of twenty-four pounds for the present relief 
of herself and children, and twelve pounds per annum during her 
widowhood. 

"In the summer of 1779, the Indians visited the home of Jesse 
Evans, who lived near the head waters of the Clinch river, and 
destroyed his family. On the morning of the day in question, Jesse 
Evans left his house, with five or six hired men, for the purpose of 
executing some work at a distance from home. As they carried with 
them various farming implements, their guns were left at the 
house, where Mrs. Evans was engaged in weaving a piece of cloth. 
Her oldest daughter was filling quills for her while the four remain- 



296 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

ing cliildrcn wore either at play in the garden or gathering vege- 
tahles. 

The garden was about sixty yards from the house, and, as no saw- 
mills were in existence at that day in this country, slab-boards were 
put up in a manner called "wattling" for palings. These were some 
six feet long and made what is called a close fence. Eight or ten 
Indians, who lay concealed in a thicket near the garden, silently left 
their hiding places and made their way, unobserved, to the back of 
the garden. There, removing a few boards, they bounded through 
and commenced the horrid work of killing and scalping the chil- 
dren. The first warning Mrs. Evans had was their screams and 
cries. She ran to the door and beheld the sickening scene, with 
such feelings as only a mother can experience. 

Mrs. Evans was a stout, athletic woman, and, being inured to the 
hardships of the times, with her to will was to do. She saw plainly 
that on her exertions alone could one spark of hope be entertained 
for the life of her "first born." An unnatural strength seemed to 
nerve her arm and she resolved to defend her surviving child to 
the last extremity. Eushing into the house she closed the door, 
which, being too small, left a crevice, through which in a few 
moments an Indian extended his gun, aiming to pry open the door 
and finish, the bloody work which had been so fearfully begun. Mrs. 
Evans had thrown herself against the door to prevent the entrance 
of the savages, but no sooner did she see the gun barrel than she 
seized it and drew it in so far as to make it an available lever in 
prying to the door. The Indians threw themselves against the door 
to force it open, but their efforts were unavailing. The heroic 
woman stood to her post, well knowing that her life depended upon 
her own exertions. The Indians now endeavored to wrest the gun 
from her; in this they likewise failed. Hitherto she had worked in 
silence, but as she saw no prospect of the Indians relinquishing their 
object, she began to call loudly for her husband, as if he were really 
near. It had the desired effect; they let go the gun and hastily 
left the house, while Mrs. Evans sat quietly down to await a second 
attack, but the Indians, who had perhaps seen Mr. Evans and his 
workmen leave the house, feared he might be near, and made off 
with all speed. 

While Mrs. Evans was thus sitting and brooding over the melan- 
choly death of her children, anxious to go to those in the garden, but 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 297 

fearing to leave her surviving one in the house, exposed to a second 
attack, a man named Goklsby stepped up tO' the door. Never did 
manna fall to the liungered Jew more opportunely, yet no sooner did 
he hear her woful tale than he turned his back upon her and fled 
as if every tree and bush had been an Indian taking deadly aim at 
him. Such were his exertions to get to a place of greater safety that 
he brought on hemorrhage of the lungs, from which he with much 
difficulty recovered. 

Seeing herself thus left to the mercy of the savages, Mrs. Evans 
took up the gun she had taken from them and started with her 
remaining daughter to Major John Taylor's, about two miles dis- 
tant, where, tired and frenzied with grief, she arrived in safety. 
She had not been gone a great while, when Mr. Evans returned and, 
not suspecting anything wrong, took down a book, and was engaged 
in its perusal for some time, till finally he became impatient and 
started to tho garden, where he supposed Mrs. Evans was gathering 
vegetables. What must have been his feelings when he reached the 
garden to see four of his children murdered and scalped. Seeing 
nothing of his wife and eldest daughter, he supposed they had been 
taken prisoners ; he therefore returned quickly to the house, seized 
his gun and started for Major Taylor's to get assistance and a com- 
pany to follow on and try, if possible, to overtake them. Frantic 
with grief he rushed into the house to tell his tale of woe, when he 
was caught in the arms of his brave wife. His joy at finding them 
was so great that he could scarcely contain himself ; he wept, then 
laughed, then thanked God it was no worse. As is common in 
such cases in a new country, the neighbors flocked in to know the 
worst, and to offer such aid as lay in their power. They sympathized 
as only frontiersmen can sympathize, with the bereaved parents; 
but the thought of having to bury four children the next morning 
was so shocking and so dreadful to reflect on, that but little peace 
was to be expected for them. Slowly the reluctant hours of night 
passed away, and a faint gleam of light became visible in the east- 
ern sky. The joyous warblers were gayly flitting from branch to 
branch and carrolling their sweetest lays, while the sun rose above 
the mountain summit, shooting his bright beams on tlie s]iarkling 
dewdrops which hung like so many diamonds from the green boughs 
of the mountain shrubbery, giving, altogether, an air of gorgeous 
beauty which seemed to deny the truth ol the evening's tale. The 



298 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

light clouds swimming in the eastern atmosphere, brilliantly tinted 
with the rising sun, 

And the gentle murmur of the morning breeze, 
Singing nature's anthem to the forest trees, 

seemed to say such horrid work could not he done Ijy beings wear- 
ing human form. But alas ! while nature teaches naught but love, 
men teach themselves lessons which call forth her sternest frowns. 

A hasty breakfast was prepared and the men set off to Mr. Evans's 
house to bury the murdered children. With a heart too full for 
utterance, the father led the way, as if afraid to look at those little 
forms for whose happiness he had toiled, and braved the dangers 
of a frontier life. But a day ago he had dandled them on his knees, 
and listened to their innocent prattle ; they were now monuments of 
Indian barbarity. 

Turning a hill the fatal garden was instantly painted on the 
retina of the fond parent's eye, to be quickly erased by the silent 
tears which overflowed their fountain and came trickling down 
his weather beaten face. 

The party came up to the back of the house at the front of which 
stood the milk-house, ovct a spring of clear water, when, lo ! they 
beheld coming u]i, as it were from the very depth of the grave, Mary, 
a little child only four years old, wdio had recovered from the stun- 
ning blow of the tomahawk and had been in quest of water at the 
familiar old spring around which, but a day before, she had sported 
in childish glee. The scalp that had been torn from the skull was 
hanging hideously over her pale face.which was much besmeared 
with blood. She stretched out her little arms to meet her father, 
who rushed to her with all the wild joy of one whose heart beats 
warm with parental emotions ! She had wandered about in the 
dark from the time she had recovered and, it may be, had more than 
once tried to wake her little sisters on whose heads the tomahawks 
had fallen with greater force. This poor, half-murdered little child 
lived, married and raised a large family."* 

In the spring of the year 1779, at the election held for members 
of the General Assembly of Virginia, Isaac Shelby and David 
Campbell were elected and served the people of Washington county 
for this year. During this year General E. Clarke, of Georgia, was 
compelled to take refuge in the settlements on Watauga and Hols- 



*Bickley's History of Tazewell. 



Washingion County, 1777-1870. 299 

ton, and, while in the settlements, repeated to the hardy frontiers- 
men many of the dastardly deeds committed by the British forces in 
their invasion and subjugation of South Carolina and Georgia. 
As a result, many of the citizens of these settlements returned with 
him to his home in Georgia to assist in avenging the wrongs of 
their fellow countrymen and, in addition thereto, creating through- 
out Southwestern Virginia and the Holston settlements a lively 
interest in the atfairs to the south of the settlements. 

The officials of Washington county, Virginia, from the first organ- 
ization of the county until this time, had, without question, exer- 
cised their authority as low down as Carter's Valley, upon the sup- 
position that all that portion of the country was in Virginia, but, 
on the 30th day of September in this year, an occurrence took 
place in Carter's Valley, between William Cocke, lately a represen- 
tative from Washington county in the Legislature of Virginia, and 
Alexander Donaldson, a deputy for Arthur Campbell, that resulted 
in greatly curtailing the territory included within this county. The 
circumstances connected with this transaction are best stated by 
the order of the County Court of Washington county, Virginia, 
entered on the 20th of October, 1779, which is as follows: 

"The complaint of the sheriff against William Cocke for insulting 
and obstructing Alexander Donaldson, deputy sheriff, when col- 
lecting the piiblic tax about the thirteenth day of September last, 
and being examined saith ; that, being at a point on the north side 
of Holston river in Carter's Valley, collecting the public tax, the 
said William Cocke, as he came to the door of the house in which 
said sheriff was doing business, said that there was the sheriff of 
Virginia collecting the tax, and asked him what right he had to 
collect taxes there, as it was in Carolina and never was in Virginia; 
that he said the people were fools if they did pay him public dues, 
and that he dared him to serve any process whatever ; that he, said 
Cocke, undertook for the people, upon which sundry people refused 
to pay their tax and some, that had paid, wanted their money back 
again." 

"Ordered that the conduct of William Cocko respecting the 
obstructing, insulting and threatening the sheriff in the execution 
of his office be represented to the Executive of Virginia. 

"Ordered that if William Cocke be found in this county that he 
be taken into custody and caused to appear before the justices at the 



300 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

next court to answer for his conduct for obstructing the sheriff in 
execution of his office." 

As a result of this difficulty, the General Assembly of Virginia 
and North Carolina at their sessions, in the year 1779, appointed Dr. 
Thomas Walker and Daniel Smith, on the part of Virginia, and 
Eichard Henderson and William B. Smith, on the part of North 
Carolina, commissioners, to run the line between the two States, 
beginning where Fry and Jefferson and Weldon and Churton ended 
their work, near Steep Eock creek, if found to be truly in latitude 
36 degrees 30 minutes North, and to run thence due west to the 
Tennessee or the Ohio river. The commissioners ran the line with- 
out trouble for about forty miles, when they disagreed, the North 
Carolina commissioners claiming the true line to be about two miles 
north of the place at which the commissioners were then stationed. 
The Virginia commissioners proceeded to nm the line to the Mis- 
sissippi river and made their report. Nothing further will be said 
upon this subject at this point, but it will be separately treated in 
another part of this book. Suffice it to say that the line, as ascer- 
tained by the Virginia commissioners, deprived Washington county 
of from one-third to one-half of the territory supposed to lie within 
Washington county; and the North Carolina Legislature, at their 
fall session in this year, established Sullivan county, North Caro- 
lina, afterwards Tennessee, and the government of that county was 
organized at the house of Moses Loony in the month of February, 
1780. 

Isaac Shelby, one of Washington county's representatives in the 
Legislature of Virginia, qualified as county lieutenant and Ephraim 
Dimlop, Washington county's deputy attorney, was appointed State's 
attorney for the new county. 

The act of the General Assembly of North Carolina erecting the 
county of Sullivan recites that the then late extension of the north- 
ern boundary line of the State from Holston river, that lies directly 
west from a place well known by the name of Steep Eock, makes it 
evident that all the lands west of said place, lying on the west and 
northwest side of said river Holston have, by mistake of the settlers, 
been held and deemed to be in the State of Virginia; owing.to which 
mistake they have not entered said lands in the proper offices. It 
recites also, that by a line lately run, it appears that a number of 
such settlers have fallen into the State of North Carolina, and it 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 301 

makes provision for the security of their lands and improvements. 
These were the first lands taken from the county as originally 
formed. 

In the fall of this year Andrew Colvill, a citizen of Wolf Hills, 
was commissioned as esclieator for Wasliington county, and Evan 
Baker was appointed deputy commissary on the western side of the 
Blue Eidge, agreeahly to the order of the Governor and Council. 

On the 22d day of March, 1780, the County Court of this county 
entered several important orders, among the numher heing one 
fixing the county levy for the year 1779, at twenty dollars for each 
tithable, and appointing John Campbell, David Carson and Alex- 
ander Montgomery commissioners of the tax for that year, and 
James Dysart, Eobert Craig and John Kinkead commissioners to 
collect that portion of the tax that was payable in commutablc 
articles. 

Eobert Craig and Aaron Lewis were recommended to the Gov- 
ernor as fit and proper persons for coroners of Washington county 
and were commissioned as such, and 

Benjamin Estill, David Watson, 

Alexander Montgomery, Aaron Lewis, 

Thomas Montgomery, James Fulkerson, 

John Latham, David Ward, 

Joseph Black, Eobert Campbell, and 

Alexander Barnett, 

were recommended to the Governor as fit and proper persons to be 
added to the commission of the peace for Washington county, and 
were commissioned as such. 

These recommendations were made in view of the fact that quite 
a number of the members of the court of this county had been 
lost to the county when the State line was run and Sullivan county, 
Xorth Carolina, was formed. 

By far the most important order entered by the court on this day 
was the following : 

"Ordered that it be recommended to the county lieutenant of 
this county not to call a general muster the ensuing month, on 
account of the apparent danger from the enemy and other dis- 
tressing circumstances of the county .'' 

The army of Cornwallis was fast approaching the southern bor- 



302 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

der of North Carolina, and every friend of the British government 
was stimulated iiito' life and became a source of uneasiness and 
ti'ouble to the back settlements. At this time General Eutherford, 
of North Carolina, made a requisition upon Sullivan and Washing- 
ton counties in North Carolina for the aid of their militia in the 
defence of the State. Cornwallis was meeting with )jut little 
obstruction in his march and contemplated nothing less than the 
overrunning of North Carolina and the invasion of Virginia. It 
was this state of affairs that produced the alarm among the set- 
tlers in Washington county. 

At the April court, 1780, William Campbell was recommended by 
the court and commissioned by the Go'vernor, as colonel of the 
county militia, in the place of Evan Shelby, who had, become a 
citizen of the State of North Carolina. Daniel Smith was com- 
missioned lieutenant-colonel, and William Edmiston major. At the 
same time the following militia officers were recommended and 
commissioned : 

Captains of Militia : 
James Crabtree, William Edmiston, Jr., 

William Edmiston, Alexander Barnett, 

David Beatie, Jr., David Beatie, 

Charles Cocke, 
and previously to this time and during the years 1778 and 1770, 
the following captains of militia were commissioned : 
George Maxwell, William Neil, 

Thomas Caldwell, James Fulkerson, 

Lieutenants of Militia : 
Robert Edmiston, Jr., Humberson Lyon, 

William Bartlett, William Davison, 

William Edmiston, Joshua Buckner, 

Joseph Scott, 
and in the year 1778-1779, the following: 

William Blackburn, John Davis, 

Levi Bishop, Moses Loony, 

Hugh Crawford, James Leeper, 

Solomon Litton,, Roger Topp, 

William Rosebrough, Samuel Newell, 

William Pitman, John Lowry, 

George Finley. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 303 

Ensigns of Militia: 
Kobcrt Campbell, John McFerrin, 

James Houston, Nathaniel Dryden, 

Andrew Goff, Daniel Davison, 

Hugh Campbell, William Blackmore, 

and in 1778-1779: 

John Sawyers, Thomas Sharp, 

Rees Bowen, George Teeter, 

Patrick Campbell, Samuel Vanhook, 

John Steele, William Crockett. 

I give the names of the officers of the county militia from the 
formation of the county to this time with considerable particularity, 
as we know that every officer at the Battle of King's Mountain, 
from Washington county, was made up from this list. And it is 
more than probable that all the officers whose names (with very few 
exceptions) have been given were present on that occasion. 

At the county court held on the last Tuesday in April of this year 
John Yancy and Christopher Acklin were licensed by the court to 
keep ordinaries in the town of Abingdon, being among the first 
ordinary keepers in the town of Abingdon. 

At the June term of this court there seemed to have been a little 
trouljle among the gentry, which is evidenced by the following orders 
entered by the court on that day : 

"Ordered that James Kerr be fined two hundred pounds for in- 
sulting Joseph Scott in open court. 

"Ordered that William Robinson be fined two hundred pounds for 
insulting Joseph Scott. 

"Ordered that Joseph Scott be fined two hundred pounds for 
flashing a pistol at James Kerr in the court yard. 

"Ordered that James Kerr be fined twenty pounds for insulting 
James Montgomery." 

At the same term O'f the court Robert Irvin qualified as deputy 
for Arthur Campbell, sheriff of Washington county. 

The following order entered by the court on August 17th is given, 
because it designates the first settler at the hefid ol Little Moccasin 
creek. 

"Ordered that John Snoddy, gent, give Alexander Barnett a list 
of tithables to work on the road from the mouth of Harrold's creek 



304 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

f 
to Alexanrler Montgomery's old cabin, at the head of Little Mocca- 
sin." 

During the summer of this year the militia of this county was 
kept on the move in consequence of the threatened invasion of the 
British forces from the South. In the months of August and Sep- 
tember one hundred and fifty men from Washington county saw 
active service on New river, about the Lead Mines, and over the 
mountains in North Carolina, under Colonel William Campbell, to 
prevent and suppress any attempted insurrection among the Tories 
in those quarters. 

The Cherokee Indians, in September of this year, began to give 
evidence of an unfriendly disposition, and every indication pointed 
to an Indian war, when the Governor of Virginia directed Colonel 
William Campbell to take command of an expedition against the 
Cherokee Indians, and it was left to his choice whether to take the 
troops down the Tennessee by water or on horseback. If the men 
went on horseback they were to be paid for such pack horses 
as might be lost without fault of the owner. 

BATTLE OF KINg's MOUNTAIN. 

While preparations were being made for this expedition and men 
were being mustered into service Colonel William Campbell was 
directed by the Governor to take command of the militia ordered to 
suppress the Tories who were at that time rising in arms, and to 
apply to that purpose the same means and powers that he was in- 
vested with for carrying on the Cherokee expedition, and, while mak- 
ing every preparation to' execute the orders of the Governor, let- 
ters were received by him from Colonels Isaac Shelby and John 
Sevier requesting his assistance in a contemplated expedition 
against Colonel Ferguson, the British officer who was then stationed 
at Gilberttown, North Carolina. Acting under the orders of the 
Governor previously given. Colonel William Campbell joined in 
this expedition, and marched a number of mounted militia from 
this county to King's mountain, South Carolina. 

Many writers, in speaking of the campaign against Ferguson and 
of the battle at King's mountain, make the statement that this 
expedition was without authority of government, but Colonel Wil- 
liam Campbell seemed to think differently, as is evidenced by a cer- 
tificate made by him in his own handwriting in the year 1781 and 
recently discovered among some old papers in the auditor's office 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 305 

at Richmond. This certificate, with endorsements thereon, is here 
given in full : 

"I hereby certify that when I was ordered by the Executive last 
summer to take command of an expedition against the Cherokee 
Indians, it was left tO' my own choice whether to take the troops down 
the Tennessee by water, or on horseback, they were to be paid for 
such pack horses as might be lost without def&ult of the owners. 
Tliat expedition not being carried on, I was directed by His Ex- 
cellency the Governor to take command of the militia ordered to 
suppress the Tories who were at that time rising in arms, and to 
apply to that purpose the same means and powers which I was in- 
vested with for carrying on the Cherokee expedition, under which 
direction I marched a number of mounted militia to King's moun- 
tain, S. C. Wm. Campbell (Col.)." 

June 16, 1781. 

Endorsed on back. 

1780 certificate of Colonel William Campbell respecting King's 
moimtain expedition. 

The situation to the south of Virginia at this time was truly 
alarming. The British had captured Charleston, with General 
Lincoln and his entire army, early in this year, and the war was 
transferred to the Carolinas and Georgia. General Gates, who 
had captured the British army at Saratoga and was in command 
of the Southern army during this year, was disastrously defeated 
at Camden, and Colonel Sumpter and his body of patriots had 
been cut to pieces by Colonel Tarleton at Fishing creek. Detach- 
ments from the British army were scattered throughout South 
Carolina and Georgia. Colonel Buford and his Virginia forces 
had been defeated and cut to pieces by Tarleton's cavalry at the 
Waxhaw's, and every preparation was being made by Lord Corn- 
wall is to overrun with his victorious army the States of North 
C'arolina and Virginia in the order named. Lord Cornwallis had 
placed the command of the western borders of North Carolina and 
South Carolina under Colonel Patrick Ferguson, one of the ablest 
British commanders at that time in the field, and he had overrun 
and destroyed the Whig forces in his territory to such an extent 
that the officers and men of the Whig forces were driven across 
the mountains to the Holston settlements. A portion of the mili- 
tia of Sullivan and Washington counties. North Carolina, under 



306 Southwest Virginia, IHJ^G-IISG. 

the command of Colonel Isaac Shelby, had been in the service of 
the State and had exhibited a great deal of ability and ])rowess at 
the battles of Musgrove's Mill and Cane Creek, after which they 
retired to their homes without suffering any inconvenience from 
Ferguson or his forces. Colonel Ferguson was greatly embittered 
toward the forces from the Holston or back waters (as it was then 
termed), and when he arrived at Gilberttown, he paroled a Whig 
prisoner by the name of Samuel Phillips, a relative of Colonel 
Isaac Shelby, and sent him to deliver a message to the officers of 
militia on the waters of the Holston, Watauga and ISTolichucky, 
which message was as follows : 

"If they did not desist from their oj)position to the British arms 
he would jnarch his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, 
and lay their country waste with fire and sword." There can be no 
question tliat Colonel Ferguson was well informed of the situa- 
tion of the western settlers and the route by which he could reach 
their country, for at that time there were in his army a number of 
Tories from the back waters. 

A crisis had been reached in the struggle for liberty, and now 
at the darkest hour in the struggle of the patriots, the opportunity 
and the men have met, when a band of western frontiersmen were 
to strike a telling blow for the cause of liberty and all America. 
Phillips immediately crossed the mountains and delivered the mes- 
sage to Colonel Shelby as directed, and gave him such information, 
in addition thereto', as he had in regard to the strength and posi- 
tion of Ferguson and his men. Colonel Shelby immediately ad- 
dressed a letter to Colonel William Campbell, of Washington 
county, Virginia, and sent it by express by his brother, Moses 
Shelby, while Colonel Shelby went to the home of Colonel John 
Sevier and informed him of Ferguson's threats, and suggested 
means by which they might embody a force sufficient to surprise 
and attack Ferguson in his camp and prevent the impending stroke. 
To the propositions of Colonel Shelby, Colonel Sevier readily 
agreed. On the 18th day of September, 1780, Colonel Charles Mc- 
Dowell, of "Quaker Meadows," North Carolina, and Colonel An- 
drew Hampton, of South Carolina, patriot leaders, with about one 
hundred and sixty men, arrived at Colonel John Carter's in Carter's 
Valley, fleeing from Ferguson and his forces. These men were 
consulted by Colonel Shelby, and a time and place appointed for 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 307 

the assenibliug of all the forces that could be enlisted for this expe- 
dition, at the Sycamore shoals or flats, on the Wataiiga river, 
about three miles below the present town of Elizabethton, Tennes- 
see. It is stated by many writers on the subject that Colonel Wil- 
liam Campbell refused to join Shelby in this expedition when first 
approached upon the subject, and that he consented only upon the 
receipt of a second and more urgent request, but I do not know 
upon what authority this statement is made, for on the 6th day 
of September of this year Colonel Campbell was at Bethabara, 
Surry county, JSTorth Carolina, with the Washington county mili- 
tia, suppressing and preventing insurrection among the Tories in 
that section, and it is evident to any one acquainted with the coun- 
try that he must have marched his men immediately from that 
])oint to Washington courthouse, and from there to the Sycamore 
Shoals, to have reached that point on the 25th of September. I do 
not think there can be any doubt that Colonel Campbell joined 
in this expedition very heartily, upon the receipt of information 
from Slielby, and that he, witli the Washington county forces, en- 
tered upon this expedition with tlie greatest of enthusiasm, as is 
evidenced by the large numbers of volunteers collected and the 
rapidity of their movements. 

It is reasonable to suppose that Colonel Arthur Campbell was 
1)US3^ enlisting the militia of this county and equipping them for 
this expedition while Colonel William Campbell and his men were 
returning from North Carolina. Colonel Arthur Campbell, in 
speaking of tlie situation of the Soiithern Colonies, said : "The tale 
of McDowell's men was a doleful one, and tended to excite the 
resentment of the people, who, of late, had become inured to danger 
l)y fighting tlie Indian, and who had an utter detestation of the 
tyranny of the British Government. 

Upon the arrival oC Colonel William Campbell, in Abingdon, 
on the 23d day of Sejitember, 1780, it was decided that two hundred 
of the militia of this county should accompany him upon this expe- 
dition, '^riie men seemed animated with a spirit of patriotism and 
assembled at Wolf creek, near the Bradley farm west of Abingdon, 
from which point they marched immiediately for the Sycamore 
Slioals, arriving at that point on the 25th day of September, accord- 
ing to appointment. Colonel William Campbell did not accompany 
the men to Sycamore shoals, he going by Colonel Shelby's at Sap- 



308 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

ling grove (now Bristol), while his men followed the Watauga 
road. Colonel Arthur Campbell, who had been left at Abingdon 
with a portion of the militia to defend the inhabitants of the county 
against any Indian invasion, at the earnest solicitation of the 
militia under his command, and wishing to give all possible strength 
to the expedition against Colonel Ferguson, on the 24th day of 
September left Abingdon with an additional two hundred men 
for the Sycamore shoals, and arrived on the 26th, just as the little 
army of mountaineers were preparing to march tor the Carolinas. 
The approach of Colonel Arthur Campbell with the reinforcements 
and the effect that it had upon the army are best described in the 
words of a North Carolina historian: 

"When nearly ready to begin the march, the sound of approach- 
ing voices was heard once more. The camp was astir; unexpected 
visitors were discovered in the distance ; nearer they came, and recog- 
nition was announced by a wild shout of joy, and Colonel Arthur 
Campbell led two hundred men into the camp. One thousand and 
fifty voices now made the welkin ring with their glad acclaim. Col- 
onel Campbell, fearing that there might not be men enough to 
secure certain victory, determined, after Colonel William Campbell 
had left, to reinforce his strength. This being now done, he bade 
liis men 'Godspeed' and a hearty 'goodbye,' and returned to his 
home again."* 

Thus it will be seen that the militia of Washington county were 
not only willing to go when required to do so, but were anxious to 
strike a blow for their altars and their homes, and it is reasonable 
to suppose that, if the country had been free from the fear of an 
Indian war, twice four hundred men would have voluntarily accom- 
panied Colonel Campbell upon this expedition. 

Let us take a look at the little army of patriots assembled at the 
Sycamore shoals. This army was made up and commanded as 
follows : 

Colonel William Campbell, 400 men 

Colonel Isaac Shelby, 240 men 

Colonel John Sevier, 240 men 

Colonel Charles McDowell and Andrew Hampton, .... 160 men 

The money to equip the North Carolina militia was obtained by 
*Schenk, N. C, 1780-1781. 



Workington County, 1777-1870. 309 

Colonels Sevier and Shelby from John Adair, the North Carolina 
entrytaker, in Washington county, North Carolina; but the Vir- 
ginia militia under Campbell were equipped by the Washington 
county authorities and paid by the State of Virginia. Every mem- 
ber of this little army, Avith but few exceptions, was dressed in the 
woolen clothes manufactured by his wife and daughters, and wore 
a fur-skin cap. 

A distinguished historian describes in such an interesting way 
the appearance of these mountaineers as they began their march, 
that I give his statements in regard thereto : 

"Their fringed and tasseled hunting-shirts were girded in by 
bead- worked belts, and the trappings of their horses were stained 
red and yellow. On their heads they wore caps of coon-skin or 
mink-skin, with the tails hanging down, or else felt hats, in each 
of which was thrust a buck's tail or a sprig of evergreen. Every 
man carried a small bore rifle, a tomahawk and a scalping knife. 
A very few of the officers had swords, and there was not a bayonet 
nor a tent in the army."* 

It would seem from the descriptions given by historians in speak- 
ing of this expedition, that the men were very poorly equipped, but, 
from an inspection of the records of this county, it will be found 
that the estates of the men killed at the battle of King's Mountain 
were valued very high, and that no part of their property was more 
valuable than their equipments at the time they were killed, a sam- 
ple of which is as follows; appraised value :f 

"One blue broadcloth and linen jacket, £150 

"One pair of leather breeches, 75 

"One great coat, 150 

"One horse, 600 

"Every member of this little army was equipped with a Deckard 
rifle, and they were not only splendid horsemen but excellent 
marksmen ; and by the warfare that they had been carr3dng on with 
the Indians they were accustomed to every kind of danger and 
hardship. They had oftentimes heard of the wrongs of their Whig 
kinsmen to the South; not only from Colonels McDowell and 
Hampton and their men, but from General Clarke, of Georgia, and 
his men, and they were determined, if possible, to prevent the 

*Winning of the West. 
fCaptain Wm. Edmiston estate. 



310 Southivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

advance of Colonel Ferguson to this side of the mountain, and to 
rescue tlieir brethren to the South from their sad plight. 

"On the 36th day of the month when they were ready to march, 
the men assembled in a grove, and there the Eev. Samuel Doak, a 
Presbyterian preacher, the pioneer clergyman of the frontiers, 
made a few remarks befitting the occasion, closing the same with the 
Bible quotation: 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.' And 
while these stern hardy men bowed their heads in reverence, this 
good man invoked on the expedition the blessings of the Lord. He 
recounted the dangei*s that surrounded his congregation from the 
savages in their rear and the British in their front; and reciting 
the promises of mercy contained in the word of their God, he 
earnestly prayed for protection to their families and success to 
those who were marching to defend their homes and liberty; and 
so effective were his prayers that tears stole down the cheeks of 
many of the rough and hardy mountaineers. After this the army 
mounted their horses and commenced their march for South Caro- 
lina. The route pursued by these men upon this march is a matter 
of considerable interest to their descendants, and I give the route as 
described by Draper in his history of the 'Battle of King's Moun- 
tain.' 

"Leaving the Sycamore shoals, they probably ate their dinner at 
Clark's mill on Gap creek, three miles from the shoals ; they thence 
passed up Gap creek to its head, where they bore to the left, cross- 
ing Little Doe river, passing on to the 'resting place' at the Shelv- 
ing Bock, about a mile beyond Crab Orchard and about twenty 
miles from the shoals, where they encamped for the night. At 
this place a number of their horses were shod by a man by the name 
of Miller. 

"The next morning they were delaj^ed for some time in butchering 
several of their cattle, after which they passed on about four miles. 
Beaching the base of the Yellow and Eoan Mountains, they 
ascended the mountain, following Bright's trace, through a gap 
between Yellow mountain on the north and Boan mountain on the 
south. When they had reached the table-land on top of the nioiui- 
tain, they found it covered with, snow shoe-mouth deep, on the sum- 
mit of which there were about one hundred acres of beautiful table- 
land and a fine spring that ran over into the Watauga. In this field 
the soldiers were paraded under their respective officers and were 



Washington County, 1111-1810. 311 

ordered to discharge their rifles, and such was the rareness of the 
atmospliere that there was little or no report. This body of table- 
land is known as the 'Bald Place/ or 'the Bald of the Yellow.' 

"At this point two men from Colonel John Sevier's company 
deserted. Their names were James Crawford and Samuel Cham- 
bei-s. It was suspected that they would make their way to Colonel 
Ferguson and inform him of tlie coming of the backwoodsmen, and 
this suspicion was correct. Upon the discovery of this fact, it was 
decided by the commandere that they would not pursue the route 
previously proposed, but would pass by a more northerly route, so as 
to confuse Ferguson should he send spies to make discoveries. 
After they had refreshments they passed on down the mountain a 
few miles into Elk Hollow, a low place between the Yellow and 
Eoan mountains, where, at a fine spring, they encamped for the 
night. On the 28th they descended Eoaring creek to the North 
Toe river, and thence down the Toe to a noted spring on the Daven- 
port place, since Tate's, and now known as Child's Place, where 
they probably rested, and thence dovm to the mouth of Grassy creek, 
where they encamped and rested for the night. On the 39th they 
passed up Grassy creek to its head, and over Blue Eidge at Gilles- 
pie's gap to Cathey's mill, where they camped. The country that 
they had passed through to this point cannot be excelled in roman- 
tic grandeur anywhere on earth. It was excellently watered, broken 
by high mo'untains and interspersed with beautiful valleys. A 
jSTorth Carolina historian, in speaking of this country, says: "If 
we were to meet an army with music and banners we would hardly 
notice it. Man and all his works and all his devices are sinking 
into insignificance. We feel that we are approaching nearer and 
nearer to the Almighty Architect. We feel in all things about us 
the presence of the great Creator. A sense of awe and reverence 
comes over us, and we expect to find in this stupendous temple we 
are approaching none but men of pure hearts and benignant minds. 
But, by degrees, as we clamber up the winding hill, the sensation 
of awe gives way, new scenes of beauty and grandeur open upon our 
ravished visions, and a multitude of emotions swell within our 
hearts. We are dazzled, bewildered and excited, we know not how 
n.or why ; our souls expand and swim through the immiensity before 
and around us, and our beings seem merged into the infinite and 
glorious works of God. This is the country of the fairies; and here 



312 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

they have their shaded dells, their mock mountains and their green 
valleys, thrown into ten thousand shapes of beauty. But higher 
up are the Titian liills ; and when we get among them we will find 
the difference between abodes of the giants and their elfin neigh- 
bors." 

At Cathey's mill the troops were divided, Campbell, with his 
men, following a trail six miles south to Wofford Fort, the others 
going to Honey Cut creek, at which point Colonel Charles McDow- 
ell, who had left the Sycamore shoals in advance of the troops to 
notify the Carolina Whigs of the coming of the mountain men, 
rejoined the army. And, on Saturday morning, the 30th day of 
September, the mountain men passed over Silver and Linville 
mountains in an easterly course, and down Paddie's creek to 
"Quaker Meadows," where the fatted calf was killed and the moun- 
tain men regaled themselves in the beautiful valley. Soon thereafter, 
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland and Major Winston joined the moun- 
tain men with three hundred and fifty North Carolinians from tlie 
counties of Surry and Wilkes. 

It may be interesting to our readers to know that Surry county, 
IsTorth Carolina, joined Virginia on the south, and embraced that 
portion of North Carolina now included in the present counties of 
Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga and Mitchell, our nearest neighbors to 
the south. 

On Sunday morning, October 1st, the Whigs left "Quaker 
Meadows" with light hearts and eager footsteps, believing that they 
would soon be upon Ferguson and his corps. They rapidly advanced, 
passing Pilot mlountain, and in the evening encamped in a gap 
of the South mountain, near where the heads of Cane and Silver 
creeks interlock each other, and on Monday they remained in camp 
for the day because of the rain that was constantly falling. On this 
day it was decided that it was necessary to have a military head to 
their organization, and Colonel McDowell was dispatched to General 
Gates, requesting him to send forward a general officer to take 
the command. The letter addressed by the officers to General Gates 
and forwarded by Colonel McDowell was as follows : 

Eutherford County, Camp near Gilberttown, 

October 1st, 1780. 
Sir : — We have now collected at this place about 1,500 good men, 
diawn from the counties of Surry, Wilkes, Burke, Washington and 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 313 

Sullivan counties in this State, and Washington eoimty in Virginia, 
and expect to be joined in a few days by Colonel Clarke, of Georgia, 
and Colonel Williams, of South Carolina, with about 1.000 more. 
As w'^' have at this time called out our tniiitia withoiit any orders 
from the Executives of our different States, and with tlie view of 
expelling the enemy out of this part of the country, we think such a 
body 0^. men worthy of your attention, and would reciuc?t you to 
send a general officer immediately to take the command of such 
troops as may embody in this quarter. Our troops being all militia 
and but little acquainted with discipline, we would wish him to be 
a gentleman of address and able to keep up a proper discipline with- 
out disgusting the soldiery. Every assistance in our power shall 
be given the officer you may thinlc proper to take the command of us. 

It is the wish of such of us as are acquainted with G-eneral David- 
son and Colonel Morgan (if in service) that one of these gentlemen 
may be appointed to the command. 

We are in great want of ammunition, and hope you will endeavor 
to have us properly furnished with that article. 

Colonel McDowell will wait upon you with this, who can inform 
you of the present situation of the enemy, and such other particulars 
respecting our troops as you may think necessary. 

*We are, sir, your most obedient and very humble ser'ts. 

(Signed) BENJ. CLEVELAND, 

ISAAC SHELBY, 
JOHN LOED, 
AND'W HAMPTON, 
\WM. CAMPBELL, 
JO. WINSTON. 

Isaac Shelby, in his old age, made the statement that Colonel 
McDowell was dispatched upon this mission for the purpose of dis- 
posing of his services, as he, by reason of his age, was too slow and 
too inactive for the command of such an enterprise as they were 
then engaged in, and this statement has been repeated by most his- 
torians. While it may be trvie, there can be no good reason for 
believing the statement, for, at this time, Colonel McDowell was 
only thirty-seven years of age, was an active and very intelligent 



*( From original of "Gates papers" in'possession of the New York Historical 
society. ) 



314 Southwest Virginia, 17Ji6-178G. 

limn and luid seen a great deal of service, before that time, in liis 
campaigns against the invaders. 

It is much more reasonable to believe that Colonel McDowell, 
being the commanding officer in the county where the army was 
then stationed and knowing the country well, of his own accord 
proposed to deliver this message to General Gates. Upon the depart- 
ure of Colonel McDowell the other colonels assembled and elected 
Colonel William Campbell, of Washington county, to command the 
M'hole, upon the suggestion of Isaac Shelby, who had, previously 
to this time, always from his earliest manhood taken orders from 
Colonel C^ampbell, who had served as an oflficer in the C'ontinental 
army. 

On the morning of the 5th of Octol)er, the mountain men made 
preparations to march from their camp to the gap at South, moun- 
tain, expecting to find Colonel Ferguson at Gilberttown and attack 
him. Before beginning the march. Colonel C'leveland requested the 
troops to form a circle, promising to tell them the news. After 
which, he came within the circle, accompanied by the other officers, 
and taking off his hat, addressed the troops as follows : 

"Now, my brave fellows, I have come to tell you the news. The 
enemy is at hand and we must up and at them. Now is the time 
for every man of you to do his country a priceless service, such as 
shall lead your children to exult in the fact that their fathers were 
the conquerors of Ferguson. When the pinch comes I shall be with 
you. But if any of you shrink from sharing in the battle and the 
glory, you can now have the opportunity of backing out and leaving ; 
and you shall have a few minutes for considering the matter.'' 

After which Major ]\IcDowell and Colonel Shelby made a few 
remarks and requested all those who hesitated about going further 
to step back three paces to the rear when the word Avas given. When 
the word was given not one member of tliat army accepted the priv- 
ilege, but a shout went up from the assemhled hosts when it was 
ascertained that there was not a coward or a slink in that little 
army. After this the army marched down Cane creek a few mile'; 
and encamped for the night. On the following day they reached a 
point near Gilberttown and ascertained that Ferguson, hearing 
of their coming, had retreated. 

Colonel Ferguson, upon hearing of the approach of the moimtain 
men, dispa.tched two messengers to Comwallis, requesting assist- 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 315 

ance at once, and issued the following })roclaniation to the coimtry : 
"Gentlemen : — Unless you wish to be eat up by an inundation oi" 
barbarians, who have begun by murdering an miarnied son before 
an aged father, and afterwards lopped off his arms, and who, by 
their shocking cruelties and irregularities, give the best proof of 
their cowardice and want of discipline; I say, that if you wish to 
be pinioned, robbed and murdered, and see your wives and daugh- 
ters in four days abused by the dregs of mankind; in short, if yon 
wish to deserve to live and bear the name of men, grasp your arms 
in a moment and run to camp. The 'Back Water' men have 
crossed the mountains; McDowell, Hampton, Shelby and Cleve- 
land are at their head, so that you know what you have to depend 
upon. If you choose to be degraded forever and ever by a set of 
mongrels, say sO' at once, and let your women turn their backs upon 
you and look out for real men to protect them. 

PAT. FERGUSON, 
Major 71st Eegiment." 

He then retreated to (Jreen river, where he gave out that he was 
retreating to Fort Ninety-six, South Carolina. He then proceeded 
to Dennard's Fort on Broad river, from which point he marched 
about four miles on the 2d day of October and lay on his arms all 
that night expecting an attack, amd on the 3d day of October he 
marched to Tate's place, where he sent the following message to 
Cornwallis : 

"My Lord : — I am. on my march io you by a road leading from 
Cherokee Ford, north of King's mountain. Three or four hundred 
good soldiers could finish this business. Something must be done 
soon. This is their last push in this quarter. 

"PATRICK FERGUSON." 

The position occupied by Ferguson at this time was sixteen miles 
northeast of King's mountain and thirty-five miles west of Char- 
lotte, the headquarters of Cornwallis. 

It seems that it was the intention of Ferguson, when he began 
his retreat from Gilberttown to join Cornwallis at Charlotte, with 
all possible speed, but, for some strange reason, he was impelled to 
march to the southwest, where he was to meet his destiny and lose 
his life. He reached King's mountain on the evening of the 6th 
of October, where bo pitched his camp and made all necessary pre- 
parations to defend his position, and gave utterance to the follow- 



316 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

ing sacrilegious boast: "That he was on King's mountain, that 
he was king of tliat mountain, and God Almighty could not drive 
him from it." 

The position occupied by Cornwallis and where the battle was 
fought, is in York county, South Carolina, about one and a half 
miles south of the State line. That portion of the mountain upon 
wliich the battle was fought was notliing more than an oblong hill 
or stony ridge, some six hundred yards long and about two hun- 
dred and fifty yards across from one base to the other, and from 
sixty to one hundred and twenty yards on the top, tapering to the 
south. "So narrow," says Mill's Statistics, "that a man, standing 
on it, may be shot from either side." The top of the ridge is about 
sixty feet above the level of the surrounding country. 

Many of the participants in the battle of King's mountain 
thought that they could see a resemblance to that battleground in 
the ridge south of and near to Abingdon, and to this they gave the 
name of King's mountain, which name it bears at the present time. 

The principal elevation on this range of mountains in South 
Carolina was about six miles from the battleground. 

We left the mountain men near Gilberttown, where they were 
informed that Ferguson had retreated some fifty or sixty nules in 
the direction of Fort Ninety-Six; which information greatly 
depressed them, but they determined to pursue, which they did 
immediately, as far as Dennard's Ford, where they lost the trail for 
awhile, but they proceeded to Alexander's Ford of Green river, 
where the officers determined to select their best men, best horses 
and best rifles, and to pursue Ferguson unremittingly and overtake 
him before he could receive reinforcements or reach any fort that 
would give him protection. The mountain men were for some time 
perplexed by the movements of Ferguson, and were unable to tell by 
what route he had fled, but soon ascertained from a Whig sympa- 
thizer, that Ferguson, on the evening of the 5th, had written a let- 
ter to Lord Cornwallis and had taken a position on the following 
day at King's mountain. 

The number of men selected on the night of the 5th of October, 
to make the forced march to overtake Ferguson, was about seven 
hundred, thus leaving behind about six hundred and ninety men. 
The Carolina troops thus left behind, were in charge of Major 
Joseph Herndon, of Cleveland's regiment, and that portion of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 317 

Campbell's regiment left behind were in charge of Captain William 
Neil. The men selected were all well mounted, while those left 
behind were not. But Colonel Campbell placed the Washington 
county troops in charge of an officer of much energy of character, 
to whom he gave directions to do everything in his power to expe- 
dite the march of the troops placed in his charge, by pushing them 
forward as fast as possible. 

Campbell, with the mounted men, started in pursuit of Ferguson 
on the morning of the Gth of October, passing in a southerly direc- 
tion to the Sandy Plains, thence southeasterly to the Cowpens, 
about twenty-one miles, which point they reached shortly after sun- 
set, where they found Colonels Hill, Lacy, Williamis and Graham, 
with their forces. On this day, they passed in the immediate vicin- 
ity of several large bodies of Tories, one of which numbered six 
hundred. "The riflemen from the mountains had turned out to 
catch Ferguson, and this was their rallying cry from the day they 
left the Sycamore shoals on the Watauga."* 

Q^liey did not intend to be diverted from their object, and there- 
fore did not waste any time on the small parties along their way. 

Ensign Eobert Campbell, of the Virginia troops, in his diary says : 
"That he was dispatched with a party of eighty men to break up the 
party of six hundred Tories stationed near the Cowpens, but that 
they had moved before the mountaineers reached the Cowpens and 
could not be overtaken that night." 

Captain Colvill undertook to surprise this same company the 
following night, but met with no better success. 

While the troops were stationed at the Cowpens, a Whig spy, who 
was a crippled man, reported to the Whig chiefs, that he had visited 
the camp of Ferguson, and ascertained his plans, and that his forces 
did not exceed 1,500 men, which information encouraged the moun- 
tain men very much, but, as a matter of precaution, Enoch Gil- 
more, another spy, was sent out to gain the latest intelligence in 
regard to the movements of the enemy, which he did, and returned 
to the camp ol the mountain men on the evening of the Gth. When 
the march was begun from the Cowpens on the evening of the Gth, 
the whole number of mounted men was 900, besides a squad of 
footmen numbering about fifty. 

The march from the Cowpens to King's mountain was made by 



*Draper's King's Mountain. 



318 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

night and there was a drizzle of rain falling during most of the 
time. Oampbell's men lost their way, and, on the morning of the 
7th, it was ascertained that they were not more than five miles 
from the Cowpens, but they soon joined the main force and pushed 
rapidly forward in an easterly direction, passing the Cherokee Ford 
and on to Season's wliere tliey halted for a short while and learned 
that Ferguson was only nine miles off and in camp. 

As Colonel Campbell rode off from this point, a girl followed, 
and, calling to him, asked: "How many of you are there?" 
"Enough to whip Ferguson if we can find him," was the reply, 
whereupon the girl, pointing her finger in a direct line to King's 
mountain, said : "He is on that mountain." 

Several persons were captured between this point and Ferguson's 
camp, one of the number being a man by the name of John Pon- 
der, upon whose person was found a message from Ferguson to 
Coniwallis imploring assistance. Another was Henry Watkins, a 
Whig, whom Ferguson had just released, and who gave tlie moun- 
tain men accurate information of Ferguson and his situation. 

At this point the mountain men were drawn up in two lines, two 
men deep. Colonel Campbell leading the right and Colonel Cleve- 
land the left, and proceeded on their march. When they came near 
to the mountain, they moved up a branch between two rocky knobs, 
beyond which the enemy's camp was in full view, 550 yards in 
front of them. This was at about 3 o'clock in the evening. Orders 
were given for the men to dismount and tie their horses, and to tie 
their blankets and coats to the saddles, and a few men were detailed 
to guard them. This was on the east side of King's creek, after 
which the order was given to the men, "Fresh prime your guns, and 
every man go into battle firmly resolved to fight till he dies." 

The army of Ferguson numbered about 1,100 men, the two 
armies being about equal in number, but there was a considerable 
difference in the motives which prompted them to fight. The Tories 
were fighting for the honor of their king. That was one and various 
other motives might be mentioned; while, on the other hand, the 
Whigs fought for the liberty and independence of the American 
Colonies, for the right to exercise their religious views without 
restraint and to protect their homes and families from unprincipled 
Tories and savage Indians. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 319 

Dr. Draper, iu speaking of the Virginia troops who participated 
in this battle, says : 

"Those men from the Holston under Campbell were a peculiar 
people, somewhat of the character of Cromwell's people. They were, 
almost to a man, Presb3'terians. In their homes in the Holston 
A'alley they were settled in pretty compact congregations, quite tena- 
cious of their religious and civil liberties, as handed down from 
father to son from their Scotch-Irish ancestors. Their preacher, 
Eev. Charles Cummings, was well fitted for the times; a man of 
piety and sterling jmtriotism, who constantly exerted himself to 
encourage his people to make every needed sacrifice, and put forth 
every possible exertion in defence of the liberties of their country. 
They were a reniarkal:»le body of men, both physically and mentally. 
Inured to frontier life, raised mostly in Augusta and Eockbridge 
counties, Virginia, a frontier region in the French and Indian war, 
they early settled on the Holston, and were accustomed from their 
childhood to border life and hardships ; ever ready at the tap of the 
drum to turn out on military service; in the busiest crop season, 
their wives, sisters and daughters could, in their absence, plant and 
sow and harvest. 

They were better educated than most of the frontier settlers and 
had a more thorough understanding of the questions at issue 
l)etween the Colonies and their mother country. These men went 
forth to strike their country's foes, as did the patriarchs of old, feel- 
ing assured that the God of battles was with them and that he would 
surely crown their efPorts with success. They had no doubts nor 
fears. They trusted in God and kept their powder dry. Such a 
thing as a coward was not laiown among them. How fitting it was 
that to such a band of men should have been assigned, by Camp- 
bell's own good judgment, the attack on Ferguson's choicast troops, 
liis Provincial Eangers. It was a happy omen of success, literally 
the forlorn hope, the right men in the right place." 

The two armies now confronted each other, the decisive moment 
was at hand, and the mountain men were eager to pounce upon their 
prey. 

Colonel Campbell arranged his forces in two divisions, making 
each division as nearly equal as possible, the two divisions to sur- 
roimd the mountain. Cam]ibell was to lead the Virginians across 
the southern end of the ritlge and southeast side, then Sevier's regi- 



320 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

ment and McDowell's and Winston's battalions were to form a 
column on the right wing, northeast of Campbell and in the order 
named, under the command of Colonel John Sevier. Shelby's regi- 
ment was to take a position on the left of the mountain, opposite 
to Campbell, and form the left center, Campbell's left and Shelby's 
right coming together, beyond Shelby was placed Williams's com- 
mand, including Brandon, Hammond and Candler, then the South 
Carolinians under Lacy, Hathorn and Steen, with the remainder 
of the Wilkes and Surry men under Cleveland, together with the 
Lincoln troops under Chronicle and Hambright. The regiments or 
companies in the order named surrounded the mountain ; Campbell 
on the southeast, then Sevier, McDowell, Winston, Hambright, 
Cleveland, Lacy, Williams and Shelby. Campbell was to swing 
to the north the left of his column and Shelby to the 
south with his right wing, so that the two columns should 
cross the mountain at its southwestern extremity ; and when all the 
companies were in position to form a complete cordon aroimd the 
mountain, which was to be drawn closer to the center as the battle 
progressed. Colonel Campbell, when everything was in readiness, 
visited in person every command in the little army, and said to 
the men: "That if any of them, men or officers, were afraid, to quit 
the ranks and go home; that he wished no man to engage in the 
action who could not fight. That as for himself he was determined 
to fight the enemy a week, if need be, to gain the victory."* 

He gave the necessary orders to his subordinate officers and placed 
himself at the head of his own regiment. 

Many of the men threw aside their hats, tying handkerchiefs 
around their heads so as to be less likely to be retarded by limbs and 
bushes when dashing up the mountain. 

The march began for the battleground, and when the mountain 
men were discovered by Colonel Ferguson, the shrill whistle used 
by him was distinctly heard, summoning his followers to arms ; the 
battle drums were beaten and every preparation was made in the 
British camp for battle. 

A party of Colonel Shelby's men captured some of the enemy's 
pickets without firing a gun. 

In ordering the battle Colonel Campbell had directed each com- 
pany of his army to listen for the Indian "war whoop" from the 



*Draper's King's Mountains. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 331 

center column when everything was ready for th.e attack. When 
heard, the army was to rush' forward upon the enemy, doing all pos- 
sible damage and repeating the same "war-whoop/' 

The first firing occurred in the vicinity of Shelby's men, and 
before they had taken their position for the battle, but, they were 
7iot permitted to return the fire, until they had gained their desig- 
nated position. Colo'nel Shelby directed his men to press on to their 
places and then their fire would not be lost. Colonel Campbell, 
about the time this firing began, taking his position in front of his 
men, tlirew off his coat and shouted at the top of his voice. "Here 
they are, my brave boys ; shout like h — 1 and fight like devils !" ""I'he 
woods immediately resounded with shouts of the line, in which they 
were heartily joined, first by Shelby's corps, and then the shouting 
was instantly caught up by the others along the two wings."* 

At the same time. Captain Andrew Colvill, of the Virginia troops, 
and Major Micajah Lewis and Captain Joel Lewis, with their troops 
were directed by Colonel Campbell to charge the British main guard, 
al)out one half way up the spur of the mountain, which they did, 
and at this point, the first heavy fighting between the two armies 
i^ok place. The charge was made by the mountaineers with such 
vigor that the British guard was forced to retreat, leaving some of 
their men killed and wounded, and the Virginia troops lost Lieu- 
tenant Eobert Edmisto-n and John Beattie of Colvill's company, 
killed, and Lieutenant Samuel Newell of this same company was 
wounded, but Newell secured a horse, .which he mounted and 
returned to the conflict. At this time an incident occurred which 
is preserved, and is here given. 

One of the mountaineers came within rifle shot of a British sen- 
tinel before the latter perceived him. On discovering the Ameri- 
can, he discharged his musket mnd ran with all speed toward the 
camp on the hill. This adventurous Whig, who had pressed for- 
ward considerably in advance of his fellows, quickly dismounted, 
leveled his rifle, firing at the retreating Briton, the ball striking 
him in the back of the head, when he fell and expired."* 

The position assigned to Colonel Campbell's men was the most 
difficult of ascent of any part on the ridge, being very rocky and 
steep, but they were not to be deterred by such obstacles, pressing 
up the mountain little by little until they had reached near the 



*Draper's King's Mountains. 



323 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

top of the hill, firing all the time. When they had reached this 
point Colonel Ferguson ordered his Eangers to charge the Virginia 
troops with fixed bayonets, which they did. The Virginia troops 
stood their ground for some time, but were forced to retreat down 
the mountain. Colonel Campbell and Major Edmiston, with the 
assistance of Lieutenant Newell, rallied the Virginia troops. Colo- 
nel Campbell led his men again to the confiict, and by constant 
and well-directed fire the Virginians drove the enemy back and 
reached the summit of the mountain, when the nvjuntain was cov- 
ered with flame and smoke and seemed to thunder."* 

Colonel Shelby, in speaking of the conduct of the Virginians at 
this time, says : 

"Campbell, with his division, ascended the hill, killing all that 
came in his way, till, coming near enough to the main body of the 
enemy who were posted upon the summit, he poured in upon them 
a most deadly fire. The enemy, with fixed bayonets, advanced upon 
his troops, who gave way and went down the hill, where they rallied 
and formed again and advanced."! 

During this last attack Lieutenant Robert Edmiston, Jr., was 
wounded in the arm and sought shelter behind a tree, where John 
Craig bandaged his arm, when Edmiston exclaimed : "Let us at it 
again," and returned to the front as if he had not been wounded. 
A noted historian, in speaking of this incident, has said : "Of such 
grit was Campbell's Holston soldiers composed; and as long as 
there was any fighting to-be done for their country and they could 
stand upon their feet, they never failed to share largely in it." 
While Campbell's men were engaged with the British Rangers, Colo- 
nel Shelby was pressing the enemy from the southwestern end of 
the mountain to such an extent that Ferguson was forced to with- 
draw his Rangers from that quartef and to charge Shelby's column, 
which, in turn, were forced to retreat before tlie British Rangers, 
but they were rallied at the foot of the hill, when Slielby addressed 
his men as follows : "Now, boys, quickly reload your rifles, and 
let's advance upon them and give them another h — 1 of fire !"* 

Campbell's and Shelby's mem were engaged for fully ten minutes 
before the other forces reached their position, after which time 
Ferguson and his forces were assailed from all quarters by the rifle- 



*Draper's King's Mountains. 

tCol. Shelby's letter to Col. Arthur Campbell. October, 1780. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 323 

mon, Avlio, pressing \ip the ridge, protected tlieiiiselvcs behind tlio 
trees, constantly firing on the British forces. 

Sliortly nftor tlio opening of tlie battle it was discovered that a 
poi'lioii of Kci'gu^oirs I'orcos had concealed themselves behind a 
chain of rocks at a very dangoi-ons point, from whicli tliov snccoss- 
f'iilly assailed tlie mountain men. 

(*olonel Shelby directed Ensign Eobert Camplvell, with a com- 
])any of A'irginia troops, to move to the right and to dislodge the 
men from their position, which Campbell did, and led his men 
witliin forty steps of them, when he discO'Vered that the Virginia 
troops had been driven down the hill. Then he gave orders to his 
men to post themselves o]3posite to the rocks and near to the enemy, 
\\hile he assisted in rallying Colonel Campbell's men, which orders 
were ol)eyed. Ensign Campbell's men keeping up snch a deadly 
fire on the British, that Colonel Eergiison was compelled to order 
a strong force to assist the men placed among the rocks, but they 
were compelled to retire to another position on the mountain be- 
fore the close of the action. The hatttle was now raging all around 
the mountain; the report of hundreds of rifles and muskets, the 
hnid commands of the officers, the Indian "war-whoops" constantly 
given by the mountaineers, and the shrill noise made liy Fergu- 
son's whistle, conspired to make a tumult never to be forgotten 
and seldom experienced by men. 

Colonel Lacy, with the South Carolinians ; ]\rajor Chronicle, 
with his N"orth Carolina forces; Colonels Shell)y and Sevier, with 
the Ilolston forces ; Colonel Cleveland, witli his boys from Surry, 
and the other officers in this little army, magnificently vindicated 
in this conflict their claim to the title of patriots. When the 
British forces would attack any one command they would in turn 
bo assailed by the mountain men in their rear and be forced to 
turn upon their pursuers, but every charge and counter-charge 
saw Ferguson's ranks grow thinner and thinner, and the coil was 
drawn closer and closer around the top of the mountain. Ferguson 
and his forces were surrounded by the mountain men, whose 
Are was so constant and deadly that it was with difficulty that the 
British officers could rally their men. The British troops began 
to give way on the southeastern side of the mountain, where they 
were hard pressed by Campbell ami Shelby, and assailed in the roar 
by Cleveland, and on their flanks by McDowell and Winston. At 



324 SoiitJiwest Virginia, nJt6-1786. 

iliis time Imo white flags were raised on the ]>ritish line, but 
Ferguson imraediately cnt them down, swearing that he would 
never surrender to such handitti. Seeing, however, that he was 
whipped, with a few friends he inade an attempt to break through 
the lines of tlie mountain men on the southeastern side of the 
mountain and make his escape, but in making the effort he was 
shot through with six or eight bullets. When Ferguson attempted 
to make his escape a mountaineer by the name of Gilliland, who 
had been several times wounded, seeing his advance, attempted to 
fire his gun at him, but it snapped, when he called upon Robert 
Young, a member of his company, saying to him: "There is Fer- 
guson; shoot him," to which Young replied: "I'll ti-y and see 
what Sweet Lips can do," whereupon he discharged his rifle and 
Ferguson fell from his horse dead, and his friends were driven 
back witliin tlie linos. Among the wounds received by Colonel 
Ferguson Avas one through the head. He received tlie fatal shot 
near Colonel John Sevier's company, and not far from the position 
occupied by Ensig-n Eobert Campbell, who had been directed by 
Colonel Shelby to dislodge the British stationed behind a ledge of 
rocks as before detailed. 

The last conflict between Colonel Campbell's men, assisted by 
Colonel Shelby's men, and the British, lasted fully twenty minutes, 
the contestants being not more than forty yards apart. This is 
said to have been the most hotly-contested part of the action. 

Colonel Campbell at this time was some distance in front of 
his company urging them on to victory, and while in this position 
he called to his men. : "Boys, remember your liberty ! Come on, 
come on ! my brave fellows ; another gun, another gun will do it ! 
D — n them; we m.ust have them out of this."* 

While the British made a noble stand, they were driven to the top 
of the mountain to their w^agons, from which position they were 
driven immediately into a low place in the mountain, where they 
surrendered. Colonels Campbell and Shelby were ably assisted by 
the bravery of the men under Cleveland, Lacy and Williams, who 
kept up a vigorous attack from their position. Captain DePeyster, 
the next in command, upon the death of Colonel Ferguson, imme- 
diately hoisted the white flag and called for quarter, which flag was 
soon taken from his hand bv one of his officers on horseback and held 



*Draper's King's Mountains. 



Washington Couniy, 1777-1870. 325 

so high that it coukt be seen all along the American line. This white 
flag was not the only one hoisted in tlic British army. At another 
point a British soldier was mounted on a horse and directed to 
hold np a white handkerchief, which ho did, and was immediately 
shot down by Charles Bowen, a second soldier suffering the same 
fate; but upon a third attempt Major Evan Shelby received the 
flag and proclaimed the surrender, but the mountain men who 
had been scattered in the battle ^vere continually co-niing up 
and continued to lire without comprehending in the heat of the 
moment what had happened,"* and many others were ignorant of 
the meaning of a white tlag under such circumstances, while others 
were angered at the loss of relatives and friends at and before thi-i 
battle. 

In the summer of this year Colonel Buford, in command of a 
iiody of Virginia troops, had been surprised and his command cut 
to pieces by Colonel 'JVirleton at the Waxhaws in North Carolina ; 
Buford's men, when surrounded by Tarleton's forces, begged for 
quarter, which Tarleton declined to give, and they were cut to 
pieces without mercy. The circumstances attending this slaughter 
were well known to all the mountain men engaged in the battle 
of King's IMountain, and the word "Buford" had been adopted as 
the pass-word by the mountain men before engaging in this action, 
and when the British were driven into the low ground hereto- 
fore described, and were offering to surrender, numbers of the 
mountain men were heard to cry out : "(rive them Buford's play !" 
and after the surrender the Americans continued to slaughter the 
British for some time, notwithstanding the efforts of the Whig offi- 
cers to prevent the slaughter. 

About this time Colonel Campliell came running up, and, see- 
ing Andrew Evans, a member of his command, aborit to fire on the 
British, knocked liis gun up, exclaiming: "Evans, for God's sake, 
don't shoot ! It is murder to kill them now, for they have raised 
the flag." Cam])bell, as he rushed along, repeated the order: 
"Cease firing! Eor God's sake, cease firing!" Campbell there- 
upon ordered Captain DePeyster, the British officer, to dismount, 
calling out to tlie British forces : "Officers, rank by yourselves. Pri- 
soners, take off your hats and sit down." The mountaineers werrv 



*Drappr's King's Mountains. 



32G Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

directed to surround the prisoners in one continuous circle four 
deep. 

Colonel Campbell then proposed to his troops "three huzzas 
for liberty/' x\t this time a small squad of Tories, who had been 
sent b}' Colonel Ferguson on a foraging expedition, returned to 
the mountain, and, not knowing of the surrender, fired upon the 
mountain men, killing Colonel Williams, of South Carolina. 
Colonel Campbell, acting upon his belief that Colonel Tarleton 
had arrived with his detaehment, ordered the men of Colonels 
Williams' and Brandon's commands to fire upon the enemy, which 
they did, killing about one hundred of them, when the mistake 
was discovered, and the firing ceased. 

Colonel DePeyster delivered his sword to Colonel Campbell, 
while Captain Ryerson delivered his sword to Lieutenant Andrew 
Iviueaimon, of the A-'irginia forces. Colonel Campl:)ell at this 
time was in his shirt sleeves, with his collar open, and when some 
of the Americans pointed him out as their commander the British 
officers at first, from his unmilitary plight, seemed to doubt it, but 
a number of officers now surrendered their swords to him, and he had 
several in his hands and under his arms. 

The battle M\as now ended after fifty minutes of hard fighting. 
Colonel Ferguson, the British commander, was killed, and the 
losses in his army were as follows : 

British Rangers. 

Killed, 30 

Wounded, 28 

Prisoners, 57 

Tories. 

Killed, 127 

Wounded, 125 

Prisoners, 649 

The killed and wounded in the army of the mountain men were 
thirty killed and sixty wounded. Colonel Campbell's regiment of 
Virginians from Washington county met with greater losses than 
any other regiment engaged in this battle, the killed being : 

William Edmiston, captain. 

Rees Bowen, lieutenant. 

William Blackburn, lieutenant. 

Robert Edmiston, Sr., lieutenant. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 327 

Andrew Edmiston, eiisigu. 
llumberson Lyon, ensign. 
James Laird, ensign. 
William Flower, private. 
John Beattie, ensign. 
James Corry, ensign. 
Nathaniel Dryden, ensign. 
Nathaniel Gist, ensign. 
James Phillips, ensign. 
Thomas IVIcCulloch, ensign. 
Elisha Pepper, private. 
Plenry llenniger, private. 

And the wonnded wore as follows : 

James Dysart, captain. 
Samnel Newell, lientenant. 
Pohert Edmiston, Jr., lieutenant. 
Frederick Fisher, private. 
John Scaggs, private. 
Benoni Benning, private. 
Charles Ivilgore, private. 
William Bullen, private. 
Leonard Ilyce, private. 
Israel Hayter, private, 
and William Moore, private.* 

It is a fact worth remembering that in this contest thirteen offi- 
cer? and three privates of the Virginia forces were killed, being 
more than one-half of all the killed in this battle, and that three 
officers and eighteen privates were wounded, a little more than one- 
third of the men wounded in this battle; they were members of the 
Virginia companies. Another remarkable fact connected with this 
battle is that of the eight members of Colonel Campbell's regiment 
by the name of Edmiston three were killed and one wounded. 

Among the rocks where the Tories had posted themselves dur- 
ing this battle the bodies of eighteen Tories were found, all of 
whom had been shot directly through the head. 

All the prisoners were placed under strong guard. The Whigs 
encamped for the night on the battleground with the dead and 



*The names of ten privates wonnded in tliis liattle cannot be ascertained. 



328 Southivesl Virginia, 17Jj6-17S6. 

v.ouudcd, and passed tlie iii_iiht amid tlic groans and lamontalions 
of the wounded Tories. 

A great qnantity of powder, Jead, shot and provisions were 
c-apuired and approproiated as a result of this battle, and Fer- 
guson's effects were divided among the officers, his sword being 
given to Colonel Sevier. Captain Joseph McDowell secured six 
of his china dinner plates and a small coft'ee cup and saucer; Colo- 
nel Shelby secured his large sil\er whistle, while a smaller whistle 
was obtained by Elias Powell, one of his soldiers ; Colonel Sevier, 
his silken sash and lieutenant-colonel's commission and DePe}'- 
. ster's sword ; Colonel Cleveland, his riding horse ; Colonel Camp- 
bell, a portion of his correspondence ; Samuel Talbot, of this 
county, removed his dead body from the place where it lay, and 
secured his pistol, which had dropped from his pocket. 

Dr. Draper has preserved several incidents relating to the sol- 
diers from this county and their conduct in this battle, which 
are here copied in full : 

"During the battle Captain William Edmiston, of Campbell's 
regiment, remarked to John McCrosky, one of his men, that he was 
not satisfied with his position, and dashed forward into the hot- 
test part of the battle, and there received the charge ol DePeys- 
ter's Rangers, discharged his gun, then clubbed it, and knocked 
the rifle out of the grasp of one of the Britons. Seizing him by 
the neck, he made him his prisoner and brought him to tlie foot 
of the hill. Returning again up the mountain, he bravely fell 
fighting in front of his company near his beloved colonel. His 
faithful soldier. McCroskey, when the contest was ended, went in 
search of his captain, found him and related the great victory 
gained, wlicn the dying man nodded his satisfaction at the result. 
The stern Colonel Campbell was seen to brush away a tear, when 
he saw his good friend and heroic captain stretched upon the 
ground under a tree with one hand clutching his side as if to re- 
strain his life-blood from ebbing away until the battle was over. 
Ife heard the shout of victory as his commander and friend grasped 
his other hand. He was past speaking; but he kissed his colonel's 
liaud. smiled, loosed his feeble hold on life, and the Christian ])a- 
triot went to his reward. 

''Lieutenant lices Boweu, who commanded one of the com])anies 
of the Virginia regiment, was observed while marching forward 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 339 

to attack the eneni}^^ to make a hazardous and imiiecessary expos- 
ure of his person. Some friend kindly remonstrated with him: 
'Why, Bowen, do you not take a tree? why rashly present your- 
self to the deliberate aim of the Provincial and Tory riflemen 
concealed behind every rock and bush before you? Death will in- 
evitably result if you persist. Take to a tree.' He indignantly 
replied : 'No ! Never shall it be said that I sought safety by hiding 
my person or dodging from a Briton or a Tory who opposed me in 
the field.' AVell had it been for him and his country had he been 
more prudent, and, as his superiors had advised, taken shelter 
whenever it could be found, for he had scarcely concluded his 
brave utterance when a rifle ball struck him in the breast. He fell 
and expired. 

"An incident of an exciting character occurred near the close 
of the contest which very nearly cost the heroic Colonel Cleve- 
land his life. Charles Bowen, of Captain William Edmiston's 
company, of Campbell's regiment, vaguely heard that his brother 
Rees Bowen had been killed, and was much distressed and exas- 
perated in consequence. On the spur of the moment and without 
due consideration of the danger he incurred he commenced a wild 
and hurried search for his brother, hoping he might yet find him 
in a wounded co^ndition only. He soon came across his own fallen 
Captain Edmiston shot in the head and dying, and, hurrying from 
one point to another, he at length found himself within fifteen or 
twenty paces of the enemy and near to Colonel Cleveland, when he 
slipped behind a tree. 

"At this time the enemy began to waver and show signs of sur- 
rendering. Bowen promptly shot down the first man among them 
who hoisted a flag, and immediately, as the custom was, turned his 
back to the tree to reload, when Cleveland advanced on foot, sus- 
pecting from the wildness of his actions that he was a Tory, and 
demanded the coimtersign, which Bowen, in his half-bewildered 
state of mind had, for the time being, forgotten. Cleveland, now 
confirmed in his conjectures, immediately leveled his rifie at Bow- 
en's breast and attempted to shoot, but, fortunately, it missed fire. 
Bowen, enraged and perhaps hardly aware of his own act, jumped 
at and seized Cleveland by the collar, snatched his tomahawk from 
his bolt, nnd would in another moment have l)iii'i('d it iu ilio coln- 
nel's l)i';iins lind not liis arm been arrested bv n soldier named 



r 



330 Southiuest Virginia, IIJ^G-IISG. 

Buchanan, who knew both parties. Bowen, now coming to himself, 
recollected the countersign and gave it "Buford," when Cleveland 
dropped his gun and clasped Bowen in his arras for joy that each 
had so narrowly and unwittingly been restrained froni sacrificing 
the other. This same autho]-, in spt\iking of Campbell's regiment, 
says : 

"No regiment had their endurance and courage more severely 
tested than Campbell's. They were the first in the onset, the first 
to be charged down the declivity by Ferguson's Rangers, the first 
to rally and return to the contest. Everything depended upon suc- 
cessively rallying the men wlien first driven do\\Ti the mountain. 
Had they become demoralized, as did the troops at Gates' defeat 
near Camden, and as did some of Greene's militia at Guilford, they 
would have brought disgrace and disaster upon the Whig cause. 
When repulsed at the point of the bayonet the well-known voice of 
their heroic commander bade them "halt !" Return, my brave fel- 
lows, and you will drive the enemy immediately !" He Ava'^ 
promptly obeyed, for Campbell and his officers had the full con- 
fidence and control of their mountaineers. They bravely faced 
about and drove the enemy in turn up the mountain. In these 
desperate attacks many a hand-to-hand fight and many an act of 
heroism occurred, the wonder and admiration of all beholders; 
but there were so many heroic incidents where all were heroes, 
that only the particulars of here and there one have been handed 
down to us. Ensign Robert Campbell, at the head of a charging 
party, with singular boldness and address, killed Lieutenant Mc- 
Ginnis, a brave officer of Ferguson's Rangers."* 

There is a tradition in the Bowen family that Lieutenant Rees 
Bowen, when he received orders to march to King's mountain, took 
with him John Bowen, his son, a mere boy, who participated in 
tlie battle and brought home to his mother his father's bloody shoes. 

A similar tradition in the Breckenridge family is to the effect 
that Alexander Breckenridge, a prosperous farmer living in the 
vicinity of Abingdon, was accompanied to this battle by his son, 
George Breckenridge, who was under fifteen years of age, and that 
he (George Breckenridge) took an active part in the battle. 

On the morning of October 8th, being Sunday, Colonel Camp- 
bell's army drew the British baggage wagons, numbering seventeen, 



*Draper's King's Mountain. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 331 

across their camp-fires, where they were burned, and, with all the 
provision that the}^ could possibly carry, they began their return 
march for the mountains with all expedition possible, fearing the 
arrival of Colonel Tarleton, encumbered as they were with so many 
prisoners and such a quantity of captured stores. The prisoners 
M-ere required to carry their own arms, as the Whigs had no other 
means of conveyance. 

The report was current in the camp, upon the morning the 
army started on its return, that Colonel Tarleton would attempt 
a rescue of the prisoners, numbering more than six hundred, and 
it is stated by a distinguished Englishman, who was at that time 
a prisoner, that before the troops moved Colonel Campbell gave 
orders to his men that should they be attacked on the march they 
sliould fire on and destroy the prisoners; but it is exceedingly 
doubtful whether such orders were ever given. 

Colonel Campbell, with a party of men, jemained behind to 
bur}' their dead countrymen, and he directed the British prison- 
ers to bury their dead. The British dead were interred in two 
pits — one a very large one, in which the Tories Avere laid side ]:)y 
side: the other a smaller one, in which doubtless the men of Fer- 
guson's corps were buried."* 

The army marched that day twelve miles and encamped on tlie 
eastern bank of Broad river. The next day they marched up Broad 
river and encanijjcd on the northern bank of Boran's river, and 
on the succeeding Friday Colonel Campbell issued an order di- 
recting that all the wounded soldiers who were not able to marc 1 1 
should be placed by the companies to which they belonged at tlie 
most suitable place they could find, which was done. The army 
thereafter moved much more ra]udly, encamping the evening of 
Ihat day at Bickerstaft''s Old Fields, where on the 14th Colonel 
Campbell issued a general order deploring the many desertions 
from the army and the felonies committed, by those who had 
deserted, on the poverty-stricken ]ieo]ilo of the country, and appealed 
to the o.^K'crs undcu- his connnaud t(i suppress the Itad ])raclice. 

"While in camp at this point the officers from Noi'lh aud Soul!i 
Carolina made complaints to Colonel Cauipbell ihat there weiv 
among the prisoners a number of men who were r()bl)ers ami 
assassins; whereupon, Colonel Campbell ordered the convening of 



^Draper's King's Mountains. 



332 Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 

a court-martial to examine into the complaints. A copy of the 
law of North Carolina was obtained, which authorized a trial of 
persons charged with such offences by a jury summoned by two 
magistrates, and directed their execution if found guilty. The 
court-martial composed of the field officers and captains, assembled 
and conducted their meeting in an orderly manner. Witnesses 
were examined in every case, and, during the day, thirty-six men 
were tried and found guilty of murder, robbery and other offence.-, 
and sentenced to be hanged, and on the evening of the same day, 
an oak tree which stood near the camp by the road side warf 
selected as a proper place to execute the orders of the court. The 
prisoners were brought out, surrounded by the Whig troops four 
deep, after which the hanging began. Three were hanged at a 
time, until nine of the condemned men had been executed. Then 
a young man by the name of Baldwin, a brother of one of the 
criminals, approached, and, placing his arms around his brother, 
who was about to be hanged, wept as if his heart wonld break, and, 
while doing so, cut the cords that bound his brother, who darted 
through the body of men and escaped, every man being so much 
affected by the actions of young Baldwin that not one man 
attempted tO' recapture or take his brother. At this point Colonel 
Shelby interposed and proposed that the executions should cease, 
and the rest of the thirty-six condemned criminals escaped hang- 
ing, being pardoned by Campbell, the commanding officer. 

The Tory leaders who were hanged at Bickerstaff wore left 
swinging to the oak tree on which they were executed, but, on the 
following day, after the departure of Campbell's forces, an elderly 
lady living in the community, with the assistance of one man, cut 
the bodies down and had them buried. 

The march of the mountaineers began on the 15th of October, 
and, after a hard day's march, through a constant downpour of 
rain, they reached "Quaker Meadows," the home of Major McDow- 
ell, having traveled thirty-two miles ; where the troops were tol- 
erably well provided for. At this point on the following day, it 
was agreed that Colonel Lacy with his men should return to South 
Carolina, while the regiments of Colonels Sevier and Shelby, witli 
that portion of Colonel Campbell's regiment that were on foot, were 
directed to take the mountain trail and return to tlieir homes. The 
greater portion of Campbell's regiment, with Cleveland, Winston 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 333 

and McDowell and their North Carolina troops, decided to remain 
in the service and act as a guard to the prisoners. Trom "Quaker 
Meadows," Campbell's troops with their prisoners, marched several 
days in the direction of Hillsborough, arriving at Haygood's plan- 
tation on Briar creek, where Colonel Campbell discharged a portion 
of his uTcn; from which point, on the 20th, he addressed a letter 
to his brother-in-law. Colonel Artliur Campbell, giving him an 
account of the battle, which letter is as follows : 

Wilkes county. Camp on Briar Creek, October 30, 1780. 
Dear Sir : — Ferguson and his party are no more in circumstances 
to injure the citizens of America. 

We came up with him in Craven county. South Carolina, posted 
on a height called King's mountain, about twelve miles north of the 
Cherokee ford of Broad river, about two o'clock in the evening of 
the 7th instant, we having marched the whole niglit before. 

Colonel Shelby's regiment and mine began the attack, and sus- 
tained the whole fire of the enemy for a1)out ten minutes while the 
other troops were forming around the height upon which the enemy 
were posted. The firing then became general and as heavy as you 
can conceive for the number of men. The advantageous situation 
of the enemy — being on top of a steep ridge — obliged us to expose 
ourselves exceedingly, and the dislodging of them was equal to 
driving them from strong breast-works ; though, in the end, we 
gained the point of the ridge, where my regiment fought, and drove 
them along the summit, nearly to the other end, where Colonel 
Cleveland with his country men were. There they were drove into 
a liuddle, and the greatest confusion. The flag for a surrender 
was immediately hoisted; and as soon as the troops could be noticed 
of it. the firing ceased, and the survivors surrendered themselves 
lu'isoners at discretion. 

The victory was complete to a wish. My regiment has suffered 
more than any other in the action. I must proceed with the pri- 
soners until I can some way dispose of them. Probably I may 
go to Biehmond in Virginia. I am, &c., 

WM. CAMPBELL, Col. Com. 

From Briar creek the army proceeded by slow marches, by Salem 
to Bethabara, a Moravian village, a large majority of the inhab- 
itants of which were Tories. While stationed at this point. Col- 



334 Southwest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 

onels Camj^bell, Cleveland and Shelby made their official report of 
the battle of King's mountain, which report is as follows : 

"A statement of the proceedings of the western army, from the 
2r)th day of September, 1780, to the reduction of Major Ferguson 
and the arniy under his command. On receiving intelligence that 
JMajor Ferguson had advanced up as high as Gilberttown, in Eutli- 
crford county, and threatened to cross the mountains to the west- 
ern waters. Colonel Campbell, with 400 men from Washington 
county, Virginia, Colonel Isaac Shelby with 240 men from Sul- 
livan county, asTorth Carolina, and Lieutenant-Colonel John 
Sevier witii 340 men from Washington county. North Caro- 
lina, assembled at W^atauga on the 25th day of September, 
wliere tliey were joined by Colonel Charles McDowell, with 
160 men from the counties of Burke and Eutherford, who 
had fled before the enemy to the western waters. We be- 
gan our march on the 26th, and on tlie 30th we were joined by 
Colonel Cleveland on the Catawba river, with 350 men from the 
counties of Wilkes and Surry. No one officer having properly a 
right to command in chief, on the first day of October we dispatched 
an express to Major General Gates, informing him of onr situation, 
and requested him to send a general officer to take command of th'^ 
whole. In the meantime Colonel Campbell was chosen to act as 
commandant till such general officer should arrive. We marched ti) 
the Cowpens, on Broad river in South Carolina, where we were 
joined by Colonel James Williams, with 400 men, on the evening of 
the 6th of October, who informed us that the enemy lay encamped 
somewhere near the Cherokee ford of Broad river, about thirty 
miles distant from us. By a council of the principal officers, it 
was then thought advisable to pursue the enemy that night with 
900 of the best horsemen, and leave the weak horse and footmen 
to follow as fast as possible. We began our march with 900 of the 
best horsemen about eight o'clock the same evening, and marching 
all night came up with the enemy about three o'clock, P. M., of the 
7th, who lay encamped on the top of King's mountain, twelve 
miles north of the Cherokee ford, in the confidence that they would 
not be forced from so advantageous a post. Previous to the attack, 
on the march, the following disposition was made : Colonel Shelby's 
regiment formed a column in the center on the left; Colonel Camp- 
bell's regiment another on the right; part of Colonel Cleveland's 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 335 

regiment. Leaded in front by ]\Iajor Winston, and Colonel Sevier's 
regiment formed a large column on the right wing; the other part 
of Colonel Cleveland's regiment, headed by Colonel Cleveland him- 
self, and Colonel Williams' regiment, composed the left wing. In 
tliis order w(^, advanced, and got within a quarter of a mile of the 
enemy before) we were discovered. Colonel Shelby's and Colonel 
Campbell's rc^giments began the attack, and kept np a fire while the 
riglit and left wings were advancing to surround them, which was 
done in about five minutes; the greatest part of which time a heavy 
and incessanf fire was kept up on both sides ; our men in some parts, 
whcTC the regulars fought, were obliged to give way a small dis- 
tance, two or three times, but rallied and returned with additional 
ardor to the attack. The troops upon the right having gained the 
summit of the eminence, obliged the enemy to retreat along the 
top of the ridge to where Colonel Cleveland commanded, and were 
there stopped by his brave men. A flag was immediately hoisted by 
Captain DePcyster, their commanding officer (Major Ferguson 
having been killed a little before), for a surrender, our fire imme- 
diately ceased, and the enemy laid down their arms, the greatest 
part of them charged, and surrendered themselves to us prisoners 
at discretion. 

It appeared from their own provision returns for that day, found 
in their camp, that their whole force consisted of 1,125 men, out 
of which the}' sustained the following loss: Of the regulars, one 
major, one (aptain, two sergeants, and fifteen privates killed; 
thirty-five privates wounded, left on the ground not able to march. 
'J'wo captains, four lieutenants, three ensigns, one surgeon, five 
sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, and forty-nine privates 
tiken prisoners. Loss of the Tories: two colonels, three captains 
and 201 privates killed; one major and 127 privates wounded, and 
left on the ground, not able to march; one colonel, twelve cap- 
tain.?, eleven lieutenants, two ensigns, one quartermaster, one adju- 
tant, two commissaries, eighteen sergeants and GOO privates taken 
prisoners. Total loss of the enemy, 1,105 men, at King's mountain. 
Given under our hands at camp. 

(Signed) WM. CAMPBELL, 

ISAAC SHELBY, ! 

BENJ. CLEVELAND. 



336 



South icest Virginia, 1740-1780. 



*The nunil)07' of men composing the army of the mountain men 
on this expedition was a.s follows: 

From Washington county, Va., under Colonel Wm. Campbell, 400 
From Sullivan county, N. C., under Colonel Isaac Shelby,. . . . 240 
From Washington county, N". C, under Colonel John Sevier,. . 240 
From Burke and Rutherford, N^. C, under Colonel Charles 

McDowell, 160 

From Wilkes and Surry, N. C. under Colonel Cleveland and 

Major John Winston, ' 350 



1,350 



The official report of the killed and wounded in the army of 
the mountain men, as published at the time and now on file with the 
Gates' papers in the New York Historical Society, gives the killed 
and woimded as follows : 

Eetukn of Killed and Wounded. 





KILLED. 


WOUNDED 




REOIMENTS. 


a! 

a 
o 
o 


o 


g* 
ft 

6 


a 

5 




a 

I' 
m 
02 


a; 
> 
Oh 


S 
o 


"3 
a 
o 
o 
O 


o 

'cS' 


a 

S 
ft 


2 


a 

bD 

a 


a 




"3 
1 


S 
o 




a 
t 



Campbell's. . 






1 


2 


4 




5 
4 


12 

4 






1 


3 






17 
4 
8 

10 


21 

4 

8 

13 


33 


McDowell's . 














8 


Thomas' .... 


























R 


Cleveland's. . 












8 


s 




1 


•) 








'^1 


Shelby's 






1 
















Sevier's 












2 


2 
1 














10 
3 
3 


10 
3 
3 


TJ 


Hayes' 




1 




















4 


Brannon's. . . 
























^ 


Tol. Williams', 


1 












1 

28 














1 












19 




1 


3 


3 






62 




Total 


1 


1 


1 •?■ 


4 




l."5 


00 








1 ^ 





It will be seen that this report is imperfect in this, that it does 
not report the killed and wounded in Colonel Shelby's regiment, 
and, in addition thereto, it is known to imperfectly state the killed 
and wounded in Colonel Campbell's regiment. 

On tlie 26th day of October, Colonel Campbell issued an order 
appointing Colonel Cleveland to the command of the troops then 
encamped at Bethabara, after which. Colonels Campbell and Shelby 



*Foote's Sketches, N. 0., page. 2(36 



WasUngton County, 1771-1870. 337 

repaired to Greneral Grates's cani]) at Hillsborough, Colonel Shelby 
to offer the services of a number of mountain men under Major 
McDowell, to serve under General Morgan. The object of Colonel 
Campbell's visit is best stated in a letter written by him to Gov- 
ernor Jefferson from Hillsborough, wdiich letter is as follows : 

"Hillsborough, October 31, 1780. 

"Sir, — I came to this place last night toi receive General Gates' 
directions how to dispose of the prisoners taken at King's moim- 
tain, in the State of South Carolina, upon the 7th instant. He has 
ordered them to be taken over to Montgomer}'^ county, where they 
are to be secured under proper guards. General Gates transmits 
to your Excellency a state af the proceedings of our little party to 
tlie westward. I flatter myself w^e have much relieved that part of 
the country from its late distress. 

"I am, your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant, 

"WILLIAM CAMPBELL." 

General Gates directed Colonel William Preston to prepare a 
proper place for the reception and care of the prisoners, but Colonel 
Preston immediately answered General Gates, informing him tliat 
the Lead Mines would be an unsafe place for the prisoners, as a 
large portion of the inhabitants of Montgomery county were dis- 
affected, and advised General Gates to send the prisoners to Bote- 
tourt county. General Gates, upon receipt of Colonel Preston's 
letter, was in doubt as to the proper disposition of tlie prisoners, 
and Colonel Campbell advised him to send the prisoners north to 
Washington's army, which idea General Gates partially approved, 
and directed Colonel Campbell to proceed to Eichmond with dis- 
patches to Governor Jefferson on the subject, which matter was re- 
ferred to the Congress of the United States by Governor Jefferson, 
and that body, on the 20th of November, expressed it as their 
opinion that the governors of the several States whose citizens were 
numbered among the prisoners should make such orders respecting 
the prisoners as the public security and the laws of the respective 
States may require. Acting under this recommendation of Con- 
gress, that portion of the prisoners that had not previously thereto 
escaped were either paroled or enlisted in the militia of the States 
of North and South Carolina. 

Governor Jefferson, upon receipt of General Gates' report of the 



338 Southwest Virginia, 17J,G-17S6. 

I>;iitl(' 111 King's mountain, transmitted the same to the Congress 
• il' I he Knit(^(l (*olnni(^s, wliieli hndv, on the 15th of November, 

;i(|()|»(('(l I he \'n\ lowiii;^' rcsol lltloll : 

"Nov. 13, ITSO. 
"A Icllci- (»r tlie Ttli IVoni (lovornor Jeifcrson was read, inclosing 
a h'ttor ol tlie first from Major-General Gates witli a particular 
account of llio victory ol)tained l)y the militia over the enemy at 
King's mountain, on the 7th of October, last, whereupon Eesolved: — 
'"i'liat Congress entertain a high sense of the spirited and mili- 
larv conduct of Colonel Campbell and the officers and privates of 
I lie militia under his command, displayed in the action of October, 
^Ih. in wliich a complete victory was obtained over superior num- 
bers of the enemy advantageously posted on King's mountain, in 
the State of S. Carolina, and that this resolution be published by 
the connnanding officer of the southern army, in general orders." 

On the 15th of the same month the Senate of Virginia passed 
the following resolutions : 

"Eesolved. iicmine contradicente, that the thanks of this House 
are justly due to Colonel William Campbell, of Washington county, 
and the bi'ave officers and soldiers under his command, who, with 
an ardor truly patriotic in the month of September last, without 
waiting for the call of Government, voluntarily marched out to 
oppose the common enemy, at the time making depredations on the 
frontiers of North Carolina, and on the seventh day of October, by 
a well-timed, judicious and spirited attack, with a force inferior 
to that of ]\rajor Ferguson's, tlion advantageously posted on King's | 
mountain, with upwards of eleven hundred men, and by a perse- 
verance and gallantry rarely to be met with, even among veteran 
ti-oo]is, totally defeated the whole party, whereby, a formidable and 
dangerous scheme of the enemy was effectually frustrated." 

On the 10th day of Noveml)er the Legislature of Virginia 
adopted the folloAving resolutions: 

"Eesolved that the thanks of this House be given to Colonel 
William Campbell, of the county of Washington, and the officers 
and soldiers under his command, who spontaneously equipped I 
themselves, and went forth to the aid of a sister State; suffering 
distress under the invasion and ravage of the common enemy, and , 
Avho, combined with some detachments from the neighboring \ 
States, judiciously concerted and bravely executed an attack on 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 339 

a party of the enemy commanded by Major Ferguson, consisting 
of about 1,105 men, British and Tories, strongly posted on King's 
mountain, whereby, after a severe and bloody conflict of upwards 
of an hour, the survivors of the enemy were compelled to surren- 
der themselves prisoners of war; and that Colonel Campbell be re- 
quested to communicate the contents of this resolution to the gal- 
lant officers and soldiers who composed his -party." 

Joseph .Tones, Ricliard Henry Lee and Colonel William Fleming 
were appointed a committee to connnunicate the foregoing vote 
of thanks to Colonel Campl)ell, which they did, to which Colonel 
Campbell was pleased to return the following answer : 

"Gentlemen, — I am infinitely happy in receiving this public tes- 
timony of the approbation of my country for my late services in 
South Carolina. It is a reward far above my expectations, and I 
esteem it the noblest a soldier can receive from a virtuous people. 
Through you, gentlemen, I wish to communicate the high sense 
I have of it to the House of Delegates. I owe, under Providence, 
much to the brave officers and soldiers wliO' served with me; and I 
shall take the earliest opportunity of transmitting the resolve of 
your House to them, who, I am persuaded will experience all the 
honest, heartfelt satisfaction, I feel myself on this occasion." 

Upon the receipt of Colonel Campbell's answer, the General As- 
sembly of Virginia adopted the following resolution : 

"Ordered that a good horse, with elegant furniture, and a 
sword, be purchased at the pul)lic expense and presented to Gen- 
eral Campbell, as a farther testimony of the high sense the Gen- 
eral Assembly entertain of his late important services to his conn- 
try." 

This resolution was not carried into execution in the lifetime 
of Colonel Campbell, but the horse and sword were afterwards pre-- 
sented to William C. Preston, a grandson of Colonel Campbell's, 
and United States Senator for many years from South Carolina. 
The gratitude of the people of Virginia to Colonel Campbell and 
his brave men for the great service they had rendered their country 
was unbounded, and the General Assembly of Virginia exhausted 
every resource in their power to make evident the gratification of 
the people. 

On the 14th of June, 1781, the General Assembly of Virginia 
adopted the following resolution : 



340 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

"Eesolved, that V\m. Campbell, Esq., be appointi'd a Jirigadicr- 
Genoral in the militia of this Commonwealth, and the Governor 
elect do eomniissio2i him accordingly."' 

And on the 32d of JSiovember, 1783, after the death of General 
Campbell, the General Assembly adopted the following resolution: 

"liesolvod, That after the lands given by law as bounties to the 
officers and soldiers shall be surveved and laid off, five thousand 
acres of the surplus be granted to Charles Campbell, in considera- 
tion of the meritorious services of his late father, General Camp- 
bell." 

And on the 9th day of Decembei-, 1780, the General Assembly 
adopted the following resolution : 

"Eesolved, That the Governor be directed to forward to Wash- 
ington county, thirty bushels of salt and six hundred pounds cash, 
to be by the court of that county distributed among the widows and 
orphans of the slain and wounded officers and soldiers of the corps 
that fought at King's mountain, in such proportion as by the said 
court may be judged proper." 

It is doubtful whether there is another county in this Uniou, 
whose citizens, either voluntarily or by command of the govern- 
ment, rendered such valuable services to their country in a time of 
imminent danger^ as did the citizens of Washington county upon 
this occasion, and you may search history in vain for another 
instance in which the government of this Union or of any State 
has shown such gratitude to the actors. 

Thomas Jefferson, in speaking of this expedition in after years, 
said: "I well remember the deep and grateful impression made on 
the mind of every one by that memorable victory. It was the joy- 
fid annunciation of that turn in the tide of success wliich term- 
inated the Revolutionary war with the seal of our independence." 

And America's greatest historian, in speaking of this expedition 
and its effect upon the public mind, said : 

"The victory at King's mountain, which, in the spirit of the 
American soldiers was like the rising at Concord, in its effect like 
the success at Bennington, changed the aspects of the war. The 
loyalist no longer dared to rise. It fired the patriots of the two 
Carolinas -with fresh zeal. It encouraged the fragments of the 
defeated and scattered American army to seek each other and 
organi/e themselves anew. It quickened the Legislature of North 



Washington Coiiuiji. 1777-JS70. 341 

Ciiiolina to earnt'^t olt'orts. It encouraged ^'il_ii■inia to devote her 
resoiirces to the conntry south of her border." 

Th.e a})|)earanee on the frontiers of a numcM-ous enemy from 
settk'nients heyond the mouiitains, whose very names had been 
nnknoMn to tlie British, took Gornwallis by surprise, and their suc- 
ces'^ was fatal to liis intended expedition. He had hoped to step 
with ease from one Carolina to the other and from those to the con- 
quest of Virginia, and he had now no other choice hut to retreat."* 

Before closing this account, it is l)ut ])roper that there sliouhl he 
given an incident connected with one of Wasliington county's l)rave 
soldiers, wlio lost a leg and wlio was l)adly wounded in his arm in 
til is battle. 

"Among tiie wounded left by ({eneral rampl)ell at Bickor- 
stafl' was William ]\roo]'e. I^pon the return of the Virginia troops 
to tlieir lionies, information was im]iarted to JMoore's wife of the 
■v\(nniding of hei- lnisl)and, the l)rave ])ar't lie had taken in the action 
and the disposition made of him at IjickerstalT. wliereupon. she 
immediately mounted her horse and, alone, traveled in the month 
of November the long and dangerous road from her home in the 
u]i])er end of this county to Bickerstaff in Xoi'tli (Carolina, where 
she found her husband, nursed him l)ack to health and strength, 
and brought him back to- his home, where he lived an honored life 
until tlie year 1S2G. 

Tradition says that he was an elder in the Ebl)ing Spring Pres- 
byterian church, and that for many vears before his death he con- 
stantly attended his church ; and. at every meeting, immediately 
upon the conclusion of the services, he would take his ])()sition. u])on 
his crutch, at the entrance to the church, and I'eccMAe the contribu- 
tions of the people. IMany of the descendants of William ]\loore 
and his wife, who was equally as brave as he. at the present time 
live in the upper end of this co\inty and are numbered among oiir 
best citizens. 

At the time Colonel Campbell decided to join the expedition 
against Colonel Ferguson, he was making the necessary prepara- 
tions for an expedition against th(> Cherokee Indians, und(>r orders 
from Governor Jefferson, which orders were as follows: 

*Banoroft. 



342 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

In Council, June 22, 1780. 

Sir: — Orders have been sent to the county lieutenants of Mont- 
gomery and Washington, to furnish 250 of their militia to proceed 
in conjunction with the Carolinians against the Chickamoggas. 
You are hereby authorized to take command of said men. Should 
the Carolinians not have at present such f^n expedition in contem- 
})]ation, if you can engage them to concur as volunteers, either at 
their own expense or that of their State, it is recommended to you 
to do it. Take great care to distinguish the friendly from the hos- 
tile part of the Cherokee nation, and to protect the former while you 
severely punish the latter. The commissary and quartermaster in 
the Southern department is hereby required to furnish j^ou all the 
aid of his department. Should the men, for the purpose of dis- 
patch, furnish horses for themselves to ride, let them be previously 
appraised, as in cases of impress, and for such as shall be killed, die 
or be lost in the service ^dthoiit any default of the owner, payment 
sliall be made by the public. An order was lodged with Colonel 
Preston for 1,000 pounds of powder from the lead mines for this 
expedition; and you receive herewith an order for 500 pounds of 
powder from Colonel Fleming for the same purpose, of the expendi- 
ture of which 3'ou will render account. 

I am, sir, your very humble servant, 

THOMAS JEFFERSON.* 

Colonel Campbell, in his certificate heretofore given, states this 
to have been his authority for taking his men upon the expedition 
against Ferguson. 

Upon the return of Colonel William Campbell and his forces 
from King's mountain, Colonel Arthur Campbell, the county lieu- 
tenant of Washington county, immediately proceeded to organize 
and carry on the expedition against the Cherokees, as directed by 
Governor Jefferson. Upon his return from this expedition, on the 
15th of January, 1781, he made a report to the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, which is so full and complete, tliat I here give it in the words 
of Colonel Arthur Campbell: 

"Sir: — The militia of this and the two western North Carolina 
counties have been fortunate enough to frustrate the designs of the 
Cherokees. On my reaching the frontiers I found the Indians 

*Gibb's Doc. His. of the American Revolution, Vol. 2. 



Washington County, 1177-1810. 343 

meant to annoy us by small parties, and carry off horses. To resist 
tlieni effectually, the apparently best measure was to transfer the 
war, without delay, to their own borders. To' raise a force suffi- 
cient and provide them with provisions and other necessaries seemed 
to be a ^\'ork of time that would be accompanied with uncommon 
difficulties, especially in the winter season; our situation was cri- 
tical, and nothing l)ut an extraordinary effort could save us and 
disappoint the views of the enemy; all the miseries of 1776 came 
fresh into remembrance, and, to avoid a like scene, men flew to their 
arms and went to the field. The Wattago men, under Lieutenant 
Sevier, first marched to the amount of about three hundred. The 
militia of this with that of Sullivan county made 400 more. The 
place of rendezvous was to be on this side of the French river. 
Colonel Sevier, with his men, got on the path before the others, 
and by means of some discoveries made by his scouts he was in- 
duced to cross the river in pursuit of a party of Indians that had 
been coming towards our settlements. On the 16th of December 
he fell in with a party, since found to consist of seventy Indians, 
mo^stly from the town of Chote, of which were killed thirteen, and 
he took all their baggage, etc., in which were some of Clinton's 
Proclamations and other documents expressive of their hostile de- 
signs against us. 

"After this action the Wattago corps tho't it proper to retreat 
into an island of the river. The 23d I crossed the French river, 
and found the Wattago men in great want of provisions. We gave 
them a supply from our small stock: and the next day made a 
forced march towards the Tenasee. The success of the enterprise 
seemed to rest on our safely reaching the further bank of tliat 
river : as we had information the Indians had obstructed the com- 
mon fording places, and had a force ready there to oppose our 
crossing. I'he morning of the 34th I made a feint towards the 
Island Town, and, with the main body, passed the river without re- 
sistance at Timotlee. 

"We were now discovered, such of the Indians as we saw seemed 
to be flying in consternation. Here I divided my force, sending a 
part to attack the town below, and with the other I proceeded 
towards their principal town Chote. Just as I passed a defile above 
Toque, I observed the Indians in force, stretcliing along the hills 
below Chote, with an apparent design to attack our van there with- 



344 South west Virginia, 111^6-1786. 

mit oin- view; Init the main Ixuly too soon caiue in sii;lii for me 
to ficeoy them from oiT tlie liills. So tliey quietly let us pass in 
order, ^vithout firing a gun, exeept a few seattering shot at our 
rear; at a great distance from the ('k'ft, we soon were in ])ossession 
of their heloved Town, in which we found a welcome sn])ply of pro- 
visions. 

''The 25th, Major Martin went with a detachment to discover 
tlie ]'onte the enem.y Avere tlying off l)y. Tie snr])rised a ])arty of 
Indians, took one scalp and se\ent«'en liorses loaded witl) elotlung, 
skins and lionse furniture. He discovered that most of the fugi- 
tives were making towards 'I'elieo and the Hiwasee. Tlie same 
day, Captain Crabtree, of the A'ii'ginia I'eg't was detached with 
sixty men to burn the town of Chilhowee. He succeeded in setting 
fire to that ])art of it situated on the south side of the river, altho" 
in the time, he wa.s attacked hy a sui)erior force. He made his re- 
treat good, 

"The 2fith, INIajor Tipton, of the Carolina Corps, was detached 
with 150 mounted infantry, with orders to cross the river, dislodge 
the enemy on that side and destroy the town of Tilassee. At the 
same time Major Gilbert Christian, with 150 foot, was to patrol 
the hills on the south side of Chilhowee and bum the remainiag 
part of that to-wn. This party did their dut}^ killed three Indians 
and took nine prisoners. The officer of the Horse, by unmilitary 
behavior, failed in crossing the river. This trip took two days. 

"In this time, the famous Indian woman, Kancy Ward, came 
to camp; she gave ns various intelligence and made an overture in 
behalf of some of the Chiefs for peace, to which I avoided giving 
an explicit answer, as I wished first to visit the vindictive part of 
the nation, mostly settled at Hiwassee and Chistowee, and to dis- 
tress the whole as much as possilde, by destroying their hal)itations 
and provisions. 

"The 2(Sth, Ave set fire to Chote, Scitigo and Little Tuskeego, 
and moved our Avhole force to a toAvn on Telico River, Kai-a-tee, 
where I intended a post, for to secure a retreat and to lay up pro- 
visions in. This evening, ]\Iajor Martin, on returning from a pa- 
trol, attacked a party of Indians, killed two, and drove scA^eral into 
the river. The same evening in a skirmish Ave lost Captain James 
Elliott, a gallant young officer, being the first and only man the 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 345 

enemy had power to hurt, on tlie Expedition. The Indians lost 
three men on the occasion. 

"Tlie ?9th, I set out for Hiwassee, distant al)oiit forty miles, leav- 
ing at Kai-a-tee, nnder Major Christian, a garrison of one hundred 
and fifty men. 

'"The 30tli, we arrived at Hiwassee and fonnd the town of the same 
name ahandoned. In patrolling tlie environs we took a sensible 
young warrior, who infonned us that a body of Indians, witii 
McDonald^ the Brjtish agent and some Tories, were at Chistowee, 
twelve miies distant, Araiting to receive ns. 1 had reason to believe 
the eiieu.y had viewed ns from the hills above Hiwassee; for which 
reason I ordered onr camp to be laid off, fires kindled, and other 
shews made, as if we intended to stay all night. At dark we set out 
with about three hiindred men (the Wattage men refusing to go 
further), croi^sing tlie river at an unexpected ford, and that night 
got near the town. ];arly in the morning of the 31st, we found that 
the enciMV had fied in haste the evening before, leaving behind them 
as they liad done at the other towns, almost all their corn and other 
provisions, together with maxiy of their utensils for agriculture and 
all their l.ieavy household furniture, with part of their stock of 
horses, cattle and hogs. These towns, 1 expected, would have lieen 
cont-ended for v/ith o!)stinac3'', as most of the Chickamogga people 
had removcid hence after their visitation in 1779. Our troops 
becoming impatient and no other object of importance being in 
view, it v.a> resohed to return homeward. Major Martin, with a 
detachment, wa'^ ordered to Sattago, and the other towns on the 
Telico river. In hi-^ route he took four prisoners, from whom he 
learnt that .-ev.'rnl of the chiefs had met a few days before in order 
to consult on means ro propose a treaty for peace. As I found the 
eneuLy nxre liumided and to gain time, I took tlie libeidy to send 
the chiefs a message, wliich was as follows: 

"(diiefs and Warriors: — We came into your country to fight your 
young men. We have killed not a few of them and destroyed your 
toAvns. You know }ou began the war, by listening to the bad coun- 
cils of tiie King of England and the falsehoods told you by his 
agents. We are now satisiied with wliat is done, as it may convince 
vour nation that we can distress them much at ;iuy tiuic they arc 
so foolish as to engage in a war against us. If yon (h'sire peace, 
us we understand you do, we, out of pity to your women and chil- 



346 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

dreii, are disposed to treat with you on that subject and take you 
into our friond.^hip once more. We therefore send this by one of 
your young- men, who is our prisoner, to tell yoM if you are also 
disposed to niake ];eace, for six of your head men to come to our 
agent, j\Iajor Maiiin, at the Great Island within two moons. They 
will have a safe passport, if they will notify us of their approach 
by a runner with a flag, so as to give him time to meet them with a 
guard on ITolstoJn river, at the boundary line. The wives and chil- 
dren of these men of your nation that protested against the war, if 
they are willing to lake refuge at the Great Island until peace is 
restored, we will give them a supply of provisions to keep them 
alive. 

'"'Warriors lision attentively. 

^'U we receive no answer to this message until the time already 
mentioned expires, we shall conclude you intend tO' continue to be 
our enemies, which will compel us to send another strong force into 
your countiy who will come prepared to stay a long time, and take 
possession thereof, as conquered by us, without making any restitu- 
tion to you for yonr lands. 

"Signed at Kai-a-tee the 4th day of January, one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-one, by 

' "AETHUE CAMPl^ELL, Col. 
"JOHN' SEVIER, Lieutenant-Col. 
"JOSEPH MAETIN", Agent & Major of Militia." 

"The fulfillment of this message will require your Excellency's 
further instructions, and in which I expect North Carolina will 
assist, or that Congress will take upon themselves the whole. I 
believe advantageous promises of peace may be easily obtained with 
a surrender of such an extent of country, that will defray the 
expenses of war. But such terms will be best insured by placing a 
garrison of two hundred men under an active officer on the banks 
of the Tenasee. 

"'Ciir whole loss on this expedition was one man killed by the 
Indians and two wounded by accident. It would have been very 
pleasing to the troops to have met the whole force of the nation at 
once on equal ground, but so great was the panic that seized them, 
aftei' seeing us in order over tlie Tenasee, that they never ven- 
turned themselves in sight of the army, but on rocky clefts and 
other ground inaccessible to our mounted infantry. By the returns 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 347 

of the officers of the different detachments, we killed twenty-nine 
men and took seventeen prisoners, mostly women and children. The 
number of wounded is uncertain. Besides these, we brought in the 
faiuiiy cf jSTancy Ward, whom for their good offices, we considered 
in another light. 

"The whole are in Major IMartin's care at the Great Island until 
the sense of government is known as to how they are to be dis- 
posed of. 

"J'he towns of Chote, Scitigo, , Chilhowee, Toque 

]\[icliqiia, Kai-a-tee, Sattooga, TelicO', Hiwassee and Chistowee, all 
principal towns, besides some small ones and severaj scattering set- 
tlements, in which were upwards of a thousand houses and not less 
than fifty thousand bushels of corn and large quantities of other 
kinds of provisions, were committed to the flames or otherwise 
destroyed, after taking sufficient subsistence for the army whilst in 
the countr}^ and on its return. Ko place in the over-hill country 
remained unvisited, except the small town of Telasee, a scattering 
scttleinent in the neighborhood of Chickamogga, and the town of 
Caloogac, situated on the sources of the Mobile. We found in 
Oconostato's baggage, which he left behind in his fright, various 
manuscripts, copies of treaties, commissions, letters and other 
archives of the nation, some of which shew the double game that 
people have been carrying on during the present war. There 
seemed to be not a man of honor among the chiefs, except him of 
Kai-a-tee, whom I would willingly have excepted had it been in 
my power. K'ever did a people so happily situated act more fool- 
ishly in losing their livings and their country, at a time an advan- 
tageous neutrality was held out to them, but such is the consequence 
of British seductions. 

"The enemy in my absence did some mischief in Powell's Valley 
and on the Kentucky path, near Cumberland Gap, besides three 
small children that they scalped on Holstein, one of the perpetrators 
of wliich, we knocked up on our rctiirn, and retook a number of 
liorses. The Botetourt and Montgomery militia were too slow in 
their movements to do any service. The Virginia militia that served 
with me on the expedition, expect to be paid in the same manner 
with those that served last year in Carolina. 

"What provisions were needed on our setting out were purchased 
on short credit, which will, I trust, be punctually paid on the first 



348 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

a|i|.'lic;ttiuii. Vonr Excellency will please to excuse the length of 
tliis narration. I tlioup-ht it ni}' clnty to give a circumstantial detail 
ol." the facts, as tlic unflertaking had something singular in it and 
liiay lead to imimrtant consequences. 

"I am, sir, \(mv most Oh't and very humble Serv't &c., 

"AETHUR CAMPBELL." 

On the 1st day of danuarv, 1781, the army of Campbell, Sevier 
and Martin divided into small detachments and returned to their 
homes by different routes, after having laid waste all th(^ country 
occupied by the over-hill Cherokees. 

In answer to the talk sent to the Indians, a nund)er of chiefs 
met Colonel ^Martin at Chote, hut nothing was accomplished at 
this time. 

Upon the return of Colonel Arthur Campbell to his home, he 
immediately communicated with G-eneral Greene, the Commander 
of the Southern Department, when General Greene appointed 
/vilhur Cam|)liell, William Freston, William Christian, Joseph Mar- 
tin, on behalf of A'irginia, and Robert Lanier, Evan Shelby, Joseph 
Williams and John Sevier, on the part of North Carolina, commis- 
sioners, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee Indians, at the 
Long Island of ITolston river, on the 24th of IMarch, 1781 ; on 
which day. Colonels Campbell, IMartin, Shelby and Sevier met at the 
Long Island and sent off one of the Indian prisoners to the Indian 
nation proposing peace and fixing the 10th day of June as the time; 
\\hich time of meeting was afterwards postponed until the 20th day 
of July, 1781, on which day the negotiations were completed. But 
at the instigation of British agents, the Indians continued their 
de])]edations u])on the white settlers. On the 13th of January. 1781, 
a settler in PowelTs Valley was killed and fourteen liorses thai 
belonged to a ])arty of men coming from Kentucky were carried off. 
In the latter part of January, a considerable numbei- of Indians 
attacked Fort Blackmore* in this county, and, about the middle of 
Februarv. three men were killed in Powell's Valley and a consid- 
e]'able nund^er of horses carried off. 

A company of militia was organized by Colonel Campbell and 
ordered to jiatiol Powell's Valley, undei' the command of Colonel 
Jt)sc-:ph Marl in and .Major .Varon Lewis. As this company of troop- 



*Now Scott county. 



WasJiitif/foii Couniy, 1777-1S70. 349 

proceeded on tlicii' oiitw.-wd Irij). ilicy (lisrovcicd ;i hn'-v liodv of 
Indians in Powell's \'alley. The Indians (lisc()V('ian,ii- the presence 
ot ]\lajor Lewis, made tlieii' escape, hui scvei'al traces of smaller 
parties, all making towards the moutli of PowelTs I'iver, were dis- 
covered, and the one that appeared the freshest was followed by 
Colonel ilartin and his men. for about thirty niiles below Cnm- 
borland Gap, where the Indians were surprised and surrounded. 
l)\it the cane was so thick they cordd not easily be detected or pur- 
s;;ed on horseback. I'lurty .auns at least were fired u]ion them, and, 
while it was thoui>iit that some of them were wounded, there 
were none killed or left njion the ground. jMartinV militia captured 
a number of shot ponches and blankets. ui)on one of wliicli was 
found tlie nam.e, John Brown, written in full, the said John Brown 
having been previously killed in Cumberland Gap. Colonel Mar- 
tin and his men pursned the Indians for abont seventy miles. In 
tlie latter jjart of ]\Iarch, a party of northward Indians came up 
on the Sandy river and penetrated as far as the settlement on TTols- 
ton, where they carried off a son of Captain Bledsoe's, and the 
frontiers Avere invaded at nnnierous other points by the Indians. 
Tlie settlements were threatened by an invasion fi'om the united 
fo]-ce& of the Cherokee and Creek Indians, assisted by the Hi'itish 
ai^ents and Tories. 

Colonel Arthur Campbell rt'commended to the Govei'noi- of Vir- 
ginia the building of a fort at the junction of the Tennessee and 
IlV-lston rivers, and was actively engaged in building the fort at 
C;;mberland Cap as previously ordered by the Governor. 

The Continental Congress and the officers of the Continental army 
ha\ing ascertained the value of the mountain militia, a pressing 
a].]ilication from General Greene for men was received by Colonel 
.Vvtliur Campbell, tlie county lieutenant of this county. Colonel 
Cam])bell immediately ordered out the militia of this county, not- 
withstanding their circumstances were ill-suited to such an expedi- 
tion, as matters with the Chei'okees were still unsettled and the 
Indians from the northAvard were constantly invading the settle- 
ir.ents. On the 25th day of Fel)ruary, 1781, one hundred men under 
Colonel AA'illiam Campbell set out to join the militia of Botetourt 
and Montgomery counties, on their mai-cb to General Greene's army. 
Colonel Arthur Cam])bell, in a letter to the Governor on the 28th 
(lav of this month, said : "A large number would have gone, were 



350 Southivest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 

it not for the daily apprcliension of attacks from the northward 
and southern Indians." 

Colonel William Campbell and his men marched to a point at or 
near the Load j\Iines, whc]-c they were joined by the Montgomery 
militia. 

In the month of March, 1781, Colonel Arthur Campbell, county- 
lieutenant of Washington county, made a return of the militia of 
this county, from which it appears that there were, at this time, in 
this county, 2 battalions, G field officers, 55 commissioned officers, 
4^ non-commissioned officers, 953 rank and fde. In addition there 
were about one hundred men residing between Walker's and Hender- 
son's lines, who did duty at times as their inclination led them." 

Colonel Campl)ell, with his company of one hundred men pro- 
ceeded from Abingdon by the Lead Mines and on into North 
Carolina, where, on March 2d, he joined General Greene with four 
hundred volunteers. Colonel Campbell was now to oppose Lord 
Cornwallis, who had imbibed a personal resentment towards him 
as the commander at King's mountain, and wlw had threatened that, 
should Colonel Campbell fall into his hands, he would have him 
instantly put to death, for liis rigor against the Tories, evidently 
d(^:igning to hold him personally responsible for the execution of the 
Toi} leaders at Bickerstaff. This, instead of intimidating Colonel 
C:impbell, had the contrary effect, and Campbell, in turn, resolved 
that, if the fortunes of war should place Cornwallis in his power, he 
should meet the fate of Ferguson. It was not long imtil Campbell 
and his men were called into action. 

The Virginia militia, other than Colonels Preston's and Camp- 
bell's commands, while on the march to join General Greene, were 
threatened with an attack from Colonel Tarleton's cavalry, with 
foi<i hundred infantry and two pieces of artillery sent out by Corn- 
wallis to intercept them. General Greene had dispatched Colonel 
Otho Williams to protect the advancing reinforcements from his 
camp at SpeedAv ell's Iron Works, on the upper waters of Trouble- 
some creek. The Virginia militia were marching on a highway, 
running west from a point below Hillsborough, to General Greene's 
headquarters. Cornwallis was in camp on the Alamance creek, about 
thirty miles west from Hillsborough. The command of Colonel Wil- 
liams was between the camp of Cornwallis and the advancing mili- 
tia. The roads leading from Cornwallis's camp and Williams's camp 



Wasliingto7i County, 1777-1870. 351 

to the position occupied by the militia, intersected each other at 
Whitsill's Mill, which was the nearest point at Avhicli Cornwallis 
could attack the advancing militia. 

It was the design of Cornwallis to attack and scatter this militia 
force and to destroy the three thoiisand arms they were bringing 
to General Greene's camp. 

General Greene moved his camp to Boyd's Mill, within fifteen 
miles of Cornwallis, and Colonels Williams and Pickens were on the 
flank of the enemy. General Greene anxiously awaited results at 
his camp, seven miles above AVhitsill's Mill. Thus matters stood on 
tlic Gth of March, when Cornwallis made a siulden dash north, 
expecting to reach Whitsill's Mill in advance of Williams, and, 
parsing north ten miles further, to intcTcept the militia reinforce- 
ments at High Rock Ford on Haw river, but CoruAvallis had hardly 
loft his camp before Colonel Williams received the news, and the 
race for AVhitsill's Mill began. They were traveling on parallel 
7'oads, Williams with his light troops flying to the rescue of his 
friends, Cornwallis with his heavy wagon train, dashing through 
ever) obstruction with reckless speed, hoping to intercept and 
destroy General Greene's reinforcements. "As the patrols and 
scouts passed from one column to the other, apprising each of the 
advance of his competitor, the race grew more animated, the com- 
petitors more earnest and resolute. The goal was now getting nearer 
and the excitement greater, when Williams, putting forth his whole 
energy, urged his men to a triumphant speed and dashed down the 
hill and across the Reedy Fork, as the enemy appeared upon the 
crest in their rear, entering from the other road."* 

Colonel Williams drew up his forces on the north bank of the 
stream, where he attacked the British and checked them in their 
onward march. 

Colonel Williams' command was composed of some North Caro- 
lina troops and the Virginia militia under the command of Colonels 
Campbell and Preston, who, as previously stated, had joined General 
Greene on March 2d, and the cavalry corps of Washington and Lee. 
The position occupied by Colonel Williams' forces was in front of 
ths ford and some two hundred yards below the mill. 

As the British forces approached, their riflemen formed the front 
rank and fired at a distance, continuing to advance toward the creek 



*Schenck's North Carolina, 1780-1781. 



352 Soiillurcf^t Virf/inia, 17JfO-17SG. 

Ill, til they wt'ic within ci^uiity yai'ds of tJic American lino, wlu'ii 
('aiii|il)cirs and Preston's riflemen fired npon them with deadly 
efl'eet. One of tlie Eritisli officers, when shot, honnding np several 
feet I'cll (lead. '"J'he enemy continued to advance, and when within 
forty-(i\t' yai'ds of the Amci-ican line, tlioy were again fired upon 
liy the rillcnicii. The enemy used their small arms and field pieces, 
hut, in every instance, their (iring was too^ higli, and took effect only 
among the linihs of the trees. 

The enemy's forces were on tlie hill, and their view was greatly 
■ohstnicted hy the smolce from the discharge of the gnns of the 
Anuricans. who were helow them. One of the ])rincipal ohjects 
M'hich Colonel Williams had in view was the protection of Whit- 
sill's Mill for a time sufficient to enahle the provision wagons 
helonging to Cenoral Creene's army to load with provision, which 
Mas efl'ected, and to prevent Cornwallis from surprising the rein- 
forcements on their way to General Greene. The Americans, hav- 
ing acconi])lished tlieir ohject, retired over the ford, whicli was ahout 
three feet dee]), with a ra]iid current, a slippery, rocky hottom and 
a i)reciiiito\is l)riishy hank on the northern side. 

Wliile crossing the foi-d. ^Fajor Josej)]! Cloyd ohserved (''ihuvl 
A\'illiam Treston. his con.imandei'. on foot, Preston having lost his 
horse in the skirmish, whereupon Cloyd dismounted and assisted 
Colonel Preston into his saddle, wdien both escaped. 

The ]U'incipal ])art of the fighting in this skirmish was done hy 
('am])l)eirs and Preston's riflemen and Lee's Legion. 

Colonel Campbell, in speaking of this engagement, said : "John 
C'raig. one of his riflemen, acted with his usual courage." and Gen- 
eral Greoni\ in S])Oakiug of tlie battli'. said : "The enemy wei'c h;ind- 
somely oi)posed and suffered considerably." 

Cornwallis immediately withdrew his forces from the Alamance 
to ? position on T^ee]) river, not far fr'om Jamestown, jSTorth Caro- 
lina, and the militia j-einforcements ])roceeded on their way and 
reached ({eneral Greene's camp at High Rock Ford, (m Sunday, 
Afarch 11, 1T81, four days before the battle of Guilford Courthouse. 
.\H preparations were made l)y General Greene to give Cornwallis 
biittle at the first o])portunity. and while Colonel Campbell took 
fewer men upon this ex])edition than any other commander, he was 
assigned one of the conspicuous parts in the subsequent campaign. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 353 

and all of the forces under his comniand have been since spoken of 
as "Campbell's Corps." 

The aggregate number of the Virginia militia, outside of the 
regular army, that participated in the battle of Guilford Court- 
house, was as follows : 

Colonel William Preston's command, 300 

Colonel William Campbell's command, (50 

Colonel Charles I^jnach's comma.id, 150 

Watkins's dragoons '. . 50 

^'irginia militia 1^693 

Tola! "2,353 

It is ef tnnated that the number of forces commanded by General 
Greene at the battle of Guilford Courthouse was not less than 4,500 
wen. 

General Greene, having collected an army of not less than -4,500 
men at the High Rock Ford of Haw river, began his march from 
that place, on Monday, the 12th day of March, determined to give 
battle to the enemy upon the first opportunity, and reached Guilford 
Courthouse on the evening of the 14th. He encamped about a mile 
above the town that night, while Corwallis was stationed about eight 
niles above the Courthouse. 

Guilford Courthouse, at the time in question, was the capital of 
Guilford county, North Carolina, and contained a population of 
about two hundred peo])le. Its principal buildings were the court- 
house, jail and a large coppersmith shop. In recent years, it is noth- 
ing more than an open field, the county seat having been moved to 
Greensboro. 

General Greene had inspected the battlefield at Guilford court- 
ho\isc on the TOth of Fel)ruary, and pronounced it very desirable for 
his army. "It afforded a forest where the militia could fight from 
tree to tree, for shelter, and be protected from the charge of cavalry, 
and for the same reason, a solid column of bayonets could not be 
kept together, among the undergi'owth of the trees. The roads that 
concentrated from the north, northeast and east, all afforded safe 
lines of retreat for his army to his supplies and reinforcements."* 

General Gi-eene, in forming his line of battle, placed Campbell's 



*Schenck's North Carolina, 1780-1781. 



354 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

corps, consisting of about five Inmdred and forty men, under the 
command of Colonel William Campbell, of Virginia, on the left of 
Butler's line and obliquely to it in the woods, and in the rear of the 
angle formed by these two lines was placed Lee's Legion, and in 
the rear of this line, on the gentle slope of the hill and about three 
hundred yards distant to the east, were posted the Virginia militia. 

On the evening of the 14th of March, Colonels Campbell and 
Lynch, eacli in command of a corps of riflemen, and Lieutenant- 
Colonels Lee and Washington, in command of the Light Dragoons, 
were advanced about a mile in front of the army and within seven 
mile'* of Cornwallis's camp. The next morning early, it was ascer- 
tained that the enemy was in motion and advancing toward Guilford 
Coui'tliouse, whereupon Colonel Lee, with his Legion and about 
thirty of Campbell's riflemen from Washington county under com- 
juand of Captain William Tate, of Augusta county, advanced to 
meet the enemy, while the rest of the riflemen, with Colonel Wash- 
ington's Horse, formed at their place of encampment on the pre- 
ceding night, to support Lee and Tate upon their retreat. Lee and 
Tate with their men met the enemy within two miles of their 
encampment and began to skirmish with them, and continued fight- 
ing and retreating for about half an hour, which disconcerted and 
delayed the enemy very mucli. In the skirmish between the forces 
of Lee and Tate and the forces of Colonel Tarleton, a loss of about 
fifty men was inflicted upon the British forces, while the light 
infantry of the guard, after losing about one hundred of their num- 
ber at the hands of the riflemen, were relieved by a portion of Tarle- 
ton's cavalry, which were ordered to their assistance. 

^\'hile this skirmish was in progress, the main body of Greene's 
army was formed about three-quarters of a mile in the rear of the 
position occupied by Campbell and Washington; and, upon the 
arrival ol Lee and Tate, the advance guard was ordered back and 
diiected to take the position assigned them in the line of battle by 
General Greene. Lee's Legion and Campbell's riflemen formed the 
corps of observation on the left flank, while the riflemen occupied 
a woodland position. About this time the enemy began a cannnn- 
ade in the center, which lasted about twenty minutes, during whicli 
time they formed their line of battle by filing ofl' to the right and 
left, and then immediately advanced upon the American troops. 
The battle lasted about two and one half hours. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 355 

While the militia on the left of the American line had been driven 
froan tlieir position. Colonel Camjibell, with his riflemen, made 
such a spirited attack on the British regiment on the right wing, 
that it was driven back, and the fire became so deadly that Colonel 
Norton, in command of the first battalion of British guards, was 
directed to join the British line on the right and oppose the advance 
of Campbell's Corps; and at this point the struggle became des- 
perate. 

"As the Hessian regiment passed the line of militia, it wheeled to 
tiie right, and, in line with Norton, faced Campbell. Campbell 
was reinforced by many of Butler's brigade, who retreated in that 
direction, and by all of Forbes' men, wlio formed on Campbell's 
right. Lee's Legion was on that flank. The Seventy-first Eegiment 
of Highlanders continued on its course up the road and soon engaged 
Stevens' brigade of Virginians. 

"It had been the intention of Campbell to fall back and put his 
corps in line on the left of Stevens, but the Hessians passed so 
rapidly in the front as to cut him off. He was also delayed by his 
conflict with Norton on the left. The riflemen, retiring deeper 
into the forest, took to the trees, and made it so hot for the guards 
tliat they were compelled to retreat in great disorder. Cornwallis 
came in person tO' their rescue, and by riding in their front and 
e.vposing himself to imminent danger, succeeded in rallying them. 
The Hessians, being now joined again by the guards, made a com- 
bined charge and drove Campbell to the south, and entirely sep- 
arated his command from the American army, so that, in fact, two 
distinct battles were raging at the same time. 

"About one-quarter of a mile on the southeast of Campbell's first 
position Cornwallis, who was following up Norton and the Hes- 
sians, had a large iron gray horse shot under him. The spot is now 
marked by a persimmon tree, a century old, whose identity is well 
authenticated by tradition. 

"Campbell wonld retreat and fire, then the British would fall 
back, and, using the bayonet, push the riflemen back again; so it 
raged and alternated between them until Campbell was driven to 
a higli range of hills, or a little mountain range as it is sometimes 
called, about one mile from Campbell's first position. Here the 
riflemen began to gain a decided advantage and to drive the Hes- 



356 Soiiihwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

sians before tlicm, a\]k'ii Loe, unexpectedly, left Campbell's flank 
and Tarleton appeared on tbe scene."* 

TjCC suddenly left Campbell without warning, and was now an 
idle spectator of this scene from the courthouse hill, across Hirnting 
creek, witliout notifying Creene of his })resence or offering to cover 
the flanks. 

Colonel Tarleton had ])een sent by Coi'nwallis to rescue Colo- 
nel Norton- who was engaged by Campbell, and Tarleton, finding 
CampbeH's rear unprotected, ordered the Hessians to fire, and 
rushed his cavalry on the riflemen under cover of smoke and cut 
them to pieces. 

"Colonel Cam]il)ell, with his Virginia and North Carolina rifle- 
men, was the last to fire a gun on this l)loofly field, and was still 
firing when Greene souuded the retreat. They became scattered 
after Tarleton's charge upon them,, and made th(>ir way as best 
they could to the camp of Greene next day."* 

Colonel Campbell was very much angered at Colonel Lee, and 
freely expressed his opinion of his conduct, charging that Colo^nel 
Fice, witb his cavalry, rode ofl" just as Tarleton began his charge 
u]-)on the flanks of the riflemicn. It is the opinion of many that, 
had Colonel TjCC acted well his part in this battle, Cornwallis 
would have been defeated and possibly captured, instead of the 
American army being forced to retreat. 

General Greene, Avith his army, retreated in good order to Speed- 
well's Furnace, about ten miles below the battlefield, not being 
pursued by the enemy further than the heights above Guilford 
Courthouse. 

Cornwallis, Avith his array, remained on the battleground from 
Thursday until Sunday, and on the evening of that day began a re- 
treat to the south. 

■ The loss of General Greene in this battle was 320 men killed and 
wounded, while the British killed and Avounded exceeded 600. 

General Greene, on the 19th day of March, addressed the fol- 
loAving letter to Colonel Camp})ell : 

"Headquarteks^ March 19, 1781. 
''Sir, — Your faithful services and the exertions which you made 
to second the efforts of the Southern army, on the 15thi inst., 



*Schenck's North Carolina, 1780-1781 



Washington Connty, 1777-1870. 357 

claim m}^ warmest tliniilvs. It would be imgeneroiis not to ac- 
k^n^ylerlge my entire approbation of yonr conduct, and the spirited 
and raanW behavior of the officers and soldiers under you. Sensi- 
ble of your merit, I feel a pleasure in doing justice to it. Most 
of the riflemen having gone home, and not having it in my power 
to make up another command, you have my permission to return 
liome to your friends, and should the emergency of the southern 
operations require your further exertions, I will advertise you. 

"T am, sir, with great esteem, yonr most humble servant, 

"NATH'L GREENE. 

"CoioyEL Campbell." 

And Colonel Henry Lee, the oificer who had so ingloriously de- 
serted Colonel Campbell during the battle, had the audacity to ad- 
dress the following letter to Colonel Campbell : 

"March 17, 1781. 

"T am very happy in informing you that the bravery of your bat- 
talion, displayed in the action of the 15th, is particularly noticed 
l)y the General. Jt is much to be lauiented that a failure took 
]ilace in the line which lost the day, separated us from the main 
body and exposed our retreat. I hope your men are safe and that 
the scattered will collect again. Be pleased to favor me with a 
return of your loss, and prepare your uien for a second battle. 

"I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"HENRY LEE, Jun. 

"CoLOXEL Ca:^tpbell." 

r>ut, notwithstanding the kind words spoken and many urgent 
requests made, General Campbell, on the 20th of the month, re- 
.=igned his commission and returned to his home, declaring he 
could not longer serve his country in the army with honor; and he 
would not serve in the army longer where Colonel Lee held a com- 
mission. 

Cornwallis, Avhile he succeeded in forcing General Greene to re- 
treat, \\'as really the loser in this battle, and on the Sunday fol- 
loM'ing, for the preservation of himself and army, he began an in- 
glorious j'ctreat that terminated at Yorktown, where he was com- 
])elled, on the 19th day of October, 1781, to surrender his sword 
and army to the American forces. 

Colonel William Campbell, immediately upon his return to his 



358 Southwest Virginia, 17J/G-1786. 

home, announccfl himself a candidate for the House of Delegates, 
to Avhich position he was elected in the spring of the year 1781. 
The General Assembly met in Eichmond in May of that year, but 
were forced to adjourn their proceedings first to Charlottesville and 
aftor\\^ards to Staimton to^ prevent capture by Colonel Tarleton. 
On tlio Htli day of June the House of Delegates appointed Colo- 
nel Caiupljell a l)rigndi(u--gcnoral of militia, to serve under Mar- 
quis de Lafayette, who was tlien in command of the Coutinent<il 
forc^os in Virginia. 

General Campl)ell immediately ol)tained a leave o.f absence and 
repaired to the army, where General Lafayette assigned him to 
the coiuuiand of the Tjight Infantry and Uiflemen. 

General Campbell became a great favorite with Lafayette, who 
]>laced a great deal of confidence in his judgment and ability. Gen- 
eral Caiui)bel] was in command of a brigade marching in the di- 
rection of Yorktown through Cum])erland county, Virginia. 

*One night he encamjied his men near the residence of an old 
English parson l)y tlic name of McRea, who had been drawing hi« 
If), 000 pounds of tobacco for many years, and was quite wealthy. 
When the regimout ])itched their tents General Campbell went- a 
few miles to spend the night with a friend. The next morning 
Avhen he retui'nod. his officers informed him that old ]\IcEae had been 
down, and said all he could to discourage the soldiers. He had 
told them that they had not the most distant idea of the dangers 
they were al)out to encounter ; tliat Comwallis had a very large army, 
composed of the finest troops that had ever left England, and it 
was perfect folly to think of encountering them. He wound up by 
saying that they were going to a slaughter-pen, and his Lord Corn- 
wallis would slaughter them like a parcel of beeves. As soon as 
Campbell heard this ho sent three of his soldiers up to the house of 
McEea, with directions to toll him that he wished to see him, and 
if he refused to come they m.-ust bring him by force. McEea soon 
arrived at the camp. Campbell informed him that he had during 
his absence said all that could liave been said to discourage his 
men, that he deserved corix)ra1 j^unislirT^nt, but on account of jiis 
old age he would not inflict that on him, but when his men started 
ho would show him how his men and the rest of the patriots would 
serve his Lord Corn^^'allis. AVhen the regiment was ready to start 



*Col. John Redd MSS. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 359 

Campbell commanded McEea to lie down and stretch himself out 
full length across the road. As soon as the parson was stretched out 
full length every man stepped over him. Campbell informed him 
that was the way be intended to serve his T^ord Cornwall is. Tlie 
parson left our gallant general in such an ill humor that I am afraid 
his prayers did not accompany the gallant commander of the regi- 
ment."* 

While Lord Cornwallis was encamped at Williamsburg and La- 
fayette was six miles distant towards Eichmond;, G-eneral Camp- 
1)1^11, who was in command of a brigade of light troops connected 
with Lafayette's army, posted a picket guard at the Three Burnt 
ChimneyS) about midway between the hostile camps. Upon several 
occaj?ions the enemy sent out a superior body of horsemen and drove 
in the American pickets. Colonel Campbell saw in this an oppoT- 
tunity to strike the enemy a severe blow, and on the followin* 
morning he posted a large body of mounted riflemen with himself 
at their head in a grove by the roadside, a short distance in the 
rear of the Burnt Chimneys, and, as usual, the pickets were posted 
at the Chimne3^s, with instructions to retire on the approach of the 
British cavalry. As usual, a large force of British cavalry was sent 
to drive in the pickets, and in doing so they pursued them under 
\^-hip and spur, but when they reached the grove they met with an 
miexpected reception. Campbell's riflemen welcomed them with a 
volley of rifle balls, which killed more than twenty of their cavalry 
and forty of their horses. It is useless to say that the American 
pickets were not again disturbed. 

Soon thereafter General Campljcll was afllicted with a pain in his 
breast, which disabled him, when he was conveyed to the residence 
of Colonel John Syme at Eooky Mills, Hanover county, where, 
after a few days' illness, he expired on August 22, 1781, in his 
thirty-sixth year. When General Tiafayette received the intelligence 
of the death of General Campbell he issued the following order : 

"The general has no doubt that the army will unite with him in 
regretting General Campbell's death, an officer whose services must 
have endeared him to every citizen, and in particular to every 
American soldier. The glory which General Campbell acquired in 
the affairs of King's mountain and Guilford Courthouse does his 



*John Redd MSS. 



360 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

memory everlasting lienor and insures him a high rank among the 
defenders of liberty in tlie American canse. 

"The geiioral wislies it had been possible for himself and the 
officers of the army to pay liim tliose honors to which his rank, but 
particularly his merit, so highly entitled him, but his great distance 
fiom the ariuy and our ])rGsent situation render it impossible. 

"The lieutenant of the county will assemble a corps to pay mili- 
tary honors to the deceased general. General Ste])hens is re- 
( (nested to name a deputation of four field officers, and will im- 
mediately repair to Eocky Mills, and. in the name of the army, pay 
(Jeiu'ral ('aiiiphell their last respects." 

General ("ampbell was buried in Hanover county, but his body 
was afterwards removed to Aspinvale, his home, near Seven-Mile 
Ford. 

'I'ho settlements on the ITolston were now being constantly as- 
sailed Ijv the Indians. Captain Moses Loony was captui'ed and car- 
ried into captivity, where he remained with the Indians until Au- 
gust of this year, when he was sent by them to inform the authori- 
ties that they had collected all the prisoners they had taken, about 
fifty in number, at Chote, and were ready to deliver them to Colo- 
nel Martin; also that tJie Indian cliiefs were ready to attend any- 
where, and the whole nation was ready to make peace. 

In March of this year Colonels John Sevier and Isaac Shelby 
undertook an ex]iedition against the Chickamogga Indians, and to 
assist in this undertaking 200 of the militia of Washingion county 
joined Colonel Isaac Shelby and marched to the Big Island in the 
French. l>road river, where the t]-oo]:>s were rendezvoused, fi'om 
which point they marched for the sources of the Mobile river, and 
after the third day they crossed the Tennessee river at Scitico, at 
which i>oint they held a council with the friendly Indians. On the 
()th day they encamped on the ITiwassee river, and on the 7th day 
Ihcy crossed the river and passed into the territory of the hostile 
Indians. (\)l()nel Sevier, with his forces, marched immediately 
against Vann's Towns, which he reduced to ashes, and thence to 
Bull Town, at the head of Chickamogga creek. After the destruc- 
tion of this town they marched to the Coosa river, where they 
killed a white man by the name of Clements, u])on whose person 
was found papers irom which it was ascertained that he was a ser- 
geant in the British army, and it was believed that he instigated 



Washington County, 1111-1870. 361 

the Indians in tlicir depreciations against the frontiers. The army 
then proceeded to Spring Frog Town, thence up the Coosa river to 
Estanola, an Indian town, which they destroyed. After tlius de- 
stroying the Indian towns and killing all the Indian warriors they 
co'iild find, tJie troops returned to Chote, where a council was held 
with the friendly Indians, at the conclusion of which the troops 
were disbanded and returned to their homes. 

This may be said to be the last expedition against the Indians 
in which the militia of Washington county in any numbers parti- 
cipated. Washington county was not much longer to be considered 
a portion of the frontiers, and her citizens soldiery was soon to 
be deprived of an occupation which they always followed with 
avidity — that of waging war against the Indians and Tories. 

In April of this year a part\' of Northward Indians came into the 
settlement on Clinch and killed and scalped two daughters of Cap- 
tain John MaxAvell's and took nine prisoners. On the same occa- 
sion they visited the home of Captain Eobert Moffett near the 
Clinch river. Two sons of Captain IMoffett's being at a sugar camp 
near their home, wore killed and scalped by the Indians. 

Tho'inas Inglis, who was reared at Draper's Meadows, had, with 
his family, some time previous to this time, settled in Burk's Gar- 
den on a piece of land that had been ])atentcd by his father, William 
Inglis, about thirty years previously. His nearest and only neigh- 
bor at this time was Joseph Hix, who lived about two miles from 
his home. A large party of Indians under the command of "Black 
Wolf," a noted Indian warrior, in April of this year visited Burk's 
Garden, and while Inglis was out on his farm surrounded his house 
ami took his wife and three children and a negro man and woman 
ju'isoners, and, after loading the negroes with as much property 
as they could carry, they burned the house. Inglis, observing the 
size of the party, decided to make his way to the nearest settle- 
ment and obtain help. He, with a colored man, crossed the moun- 
tains to the settlement in the Eich Valley (now Smyth county), 
and arrived at that point at a very opportune time, the day being 
the muster day for the militia of the community. As soon as 
Inglis gave information of what had occurred, about twenty men 
volunteered to go. in pursuit of the Indians, and immediately be- 
gan the march for Inglis' home, which they reached the next morn- 
injr about davbreak, to find nothing but a heap of ashes where In- 



362 ■ Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

glis' house had formerly stood. Joseph Hix, Inglis' neighbor, dis- 
co vering the presence of the Indians in the community, immedi- 
ately made his way to a small settlement, about six miles away, 
where he obtained about six volunteers and returned to Burk's 
Garden and joined the forces from Rich Valley. The company thus 
composed immediately began the pursuit of the Indians. Captain 
James Maxwell, who had during the same month lost two of his 
daughters at the hands of the Indians, was placed in command of 
the pursuers, and, after five days' cautious marching, the Indians 
were discovered in camp in a gap of Tug mountain. The pursuers 
were at once divided into two companies. Captain Maxwell, witli 
about one-half the number, undertook to get in front of the In- 
dians, while Thomas Inglis, with another party, was to att^ack them 
in the rear. Captain Maxwell failed to get in a position to attack 
the Indians by daylight, and Inglis and his party attacked thorn 
alone. As soon as a shot was fired tlie Indians began to tomahawk 
the prisoners. Thomas Inglis rushed into the Indian camp and 
reached the side of his wife. At that moment she received a terri- 
ble blow on the head with a tomahawk from an Indian, and in fall- 
ing she protected the infant she held in her arms by covering it. 
In addition to Mrs. Inglis' injuries, Mary Inglis and William Inglis, 
children of Thomas Inglis, were scalped. The Indians, in making 
their escape, passed near Captain Maxwell and his men, upon whom 
they fired, one ball striking Captain Maxwell and killing him in- 
stantly, lie wore a white hunting shirt, and was a good target for 
the Indian fire. The pursuers encamped upon the ground for the 
night, and proceeded to bury Captain Maxwell and William Inglis, 
the young boy who died from his wounds. The number of Indians 
killed at this time is not known. 

Maxwell's Gap, in the Tug Ridge, is the locality of this occur- 
rence. Mary Inglis, the little girl, died a few days after the skir- 
mish, but ]\Irs. Inglis entirely recovered from her injuries. 

In the same month the Indians killed a man on Bluestone and a 
woman at Culberson's Bottom,, on New river. It is a remarkable 
fact that of the five houses visited by tlie Indians .in this month 
four l)elongod to militia officers, and some of them were a con- 
siderable distance witliin the frontier settlements; from wliich fact 
it is reasonable to suppose that the Indians were prompted and led 
bv Tor}^ sympathizers in their assaults upon the frontiers. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 363 

Major John Taylor, who was in command of the militia on the 
upper waters of the Clinch, pursued the different parties of invading 
Indians, but did not succeed in overtaking them, and Colonel Pres- 
ton was compelled, for the protection of the settlements, to direct 
Colonel Joseph Cloyd to call out the militia and to station them at 
"David Doak's Mill" to protect the settlements. The consternation 
produced along the frontiers froan Powell's Valley to the head of 
the Clinch was so great that the Governor directed Colonel William 
Preston to assemble the field officers of Montgomery and Wash- 
ington counties at the Lead Mines at once to devise ways and means 
to protect the frontiers. This meeting of the field officers took 
place on July 6, 1782, on which day the following proceedings were 
had: 

At a meeting of the field officers of the militia of Montgomery 
and Washington counties, in conformity to instructions received 
from Ilis Excellency, the Governor, etc., to concert and settle some 
proper plan for the defence of both counties. Present : 

Field Officers for Montgomery County. 
William Preston, Daniel Trigg, 

Walter Crockett, John Taylor^ 

Joseph Cloyd, Abraham Trigg. 

Field Officers for AVashington County. 
Arthur Campbell, Aaron Lewis, 

William Edmiston, James D^'Sart, and 

Major Patrick Lockhart, District Commissioner. 

It is the unanimous opinion of the Board of Officers that the 
300 men permitted to be drawn out by His Excellency, the Governor, 
for the defence of the frontiers be disposed of into the following 
districts, namely, on New river, in the neighborhood of Captain 
Pearis, 30 men; Sngar Eun, 20; Captain Moore's, head of Blue- 
stone, 25 ; head of Clinch, 25 men. 

In Washington, at Eichland, 20 ; Castle's Woods, 30 ; Eye Cove, 
20 ; Powell's Valley, 30 men. The extent of the different districts, 
from Captain Pearis's to Sugar Eun, 10 miles; to Captain Moore's 
head of Bluestone, 30; to Captain Maxwell's, head of Clinch, 16 
miles, wliich is nearest the Washington line; to Eichland's, 24; to 
Castle's Woods, 30; to Eye Cove, 28; to Powell's Valley Fort. 96 
miles, in all 164 miles. 



364 Southwest Virginia, 17Ji6-1786. 

We find the greatest difficulty in making any provision for the 
support of these men while on duty, as there is no specific tax 
brought into the place appointed for that purpose in either of the 
counties ; the officers have therefore recommended Major Lockliart, 
the District Commissioners, to purchase 200 bushels of corn in Mont- 
gomery county, at the most convenient places where the militia are 
to do duty, at three shillings a bushel, being the current price, and 
an equal quantity in the county of Washington, for the use of the 
troops, etc., which we are convinced will be a great saving to the 
State, as the transporting from Botetourt, where there is some 
belonging to the public on hand, to the several districts where the 
militia are to do duty, will be attended with very great expense, the 
distance being from GO to IGO miles, &c. 

As objections have been made to that part of the Governor's 
instructions ordering the direction of the militia of both counties 
while on duty, under that of the county-lieutenant of Montgomery, 
who lives upward of one hundred and eighty miles from Powell's 
Valley and not less than ninety miles from Eichland District, in 
Washington, whicli renders it impossible and useless for him to have 
these men under his directions, for which reason he declined tliat 
part of the command : Let it therefore be huml)ly recommended to 
His Excellency the Governor, to alter that part of his orders, by 
giving the superintendence of the troops in each county to the com- 
manding off.cer of the same, as it will save the expense of a field 
officer being on duty, which otherwise would be necessary, and the 
defense of the frontier will in all probability be better conducted. 

The Board of Officers are unanimously of opinion that the coun- 
ties of jMontgomcry and Washington will provide the number of men 
ordered for their defense, without calling on any of the neighlioring 
counties for assistance, unless there is a real reason for doing so in 
some emergency or on the approach of a large body of the enemy. 

They also beg leave to suggest that the usual manner the Indians 
conduct their attacks on our settlements makes it necessary that a 
proper number of scouts be employed in each district to discover 
their approaches, for whicli reason it had induced the officers to 
direct that two be employed in eaeli district for the immediate 
safety of the inhabitants. 

Pursuant to tlie recommendation thus made by the field officers 
of the two counties, the number of militia recommended were sta- 



Washington Couniij, J777-1S70. 365 

tioiied at the places designated, and all placed under the command 
of Colonel Arthur Camphell, of Washington county. 

About this time the frontier settlement in Powell's Valh\y was 
much harassed b}^ small parties of Cherokee Indians from the 
Cliickamogga towns, who, in the spring of this year, killed two 
men, and had almost ruined the inhabitants by destroying or car- 
i-ying off their stock. Captain Samuel Newell, who was in com- 
inand of the militia in that locality, pursued the Indians on several 
occasions, and at one time had the good luck to overtake two of 
their parties, one about forty-five miles above the Cuttawa or Cum- 
berland Gap, and firing upon them in camp, wounded some and 
retoolc everything. The other party was overtaken when asleep; 
when one was killed and another wounded, and the rest of the party 
Mere forced to make their way home naked. 

About this time, as two friendly Indians were coming up the Hols- 
ton river, with a canoe loaded with skins for Colonel Josepli ]\Iar- 
tin at Long Island, they were killed by two of the settlers, who, 
in attempting to dispose of their skins, were detected, but the 
inliabitants in the community of Long Island would not permit tlic 
criminals to be brought to justice, alleging against the Indians in 
general the late depredations on the frontiers. 

In the year 1781, a company of eleven Indians visited the home 
of a Mr. Harablin, on Clinch river, near Castle's Woods. Mrs. Ham- 
blin, who was at home, barred the doors to her house and defended 
it against the attack of the Indians with an old musket-gun that 
would not fire. But in the spring of the year 1782, the Indians 
returned to her home, at which time they succeeded in killing and 
scalping Mrs. Hambliu and all her children except one, a little 
boy, whom they carried a prisoner into Canada. 

In July of this year, Oconostato, who was the principal chief of 
the Cherokee Indians, resigned his authority to his son, an Indian 
chief by the name of Tuckasee, and the frontier settlements had 
great hope of peace. On the 36th day of July, Ellis Harland, a 
noted Indian trader, returned from the Chickamogga Indians with 
the information that they desired peace, and that they were to set out 
for Chote with all their prisoners, the day he left them ; and, in a 
few days thereafter, Springstone, an Indian trader, brought to the 
settlements two prisoners, one a woman taken from Green river 
in Kentuckv, her name being Stanley, the other a boy about ten 



366 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

years old, a son of Thomas Steward, who was killed going down the 
river with Colonel Donaldson, when on his way to Cumberland. 

But, notwithstanding these professions 'of peace, a party of north- 
ward Indians penetrated this county in the month of August and 
killed two men; and on the 11th day of September, 1782, a party of 
northward Indians came as far as the settlement on the head of the 
Moccasin creek, within twelve miles of Abingdon, and attacked a 
family of fourteen persons, killing the husband on the spot, cap- 
turing the wife and six little children, three of whom were shortly 
afterward inhumanly murdered. One of the three, a young woman, 
survived the blows received from the Indians long enough to tell 
the tragic tale. Two, the wife and one child, made their escape 
the first day and night. 

A considerable booty in horses was carried off by the Indians. 
When news of this invasion reached the settlement, the militia on 
duty, with perseverance in pursuing through a most rugged and 
difficult way, overtook the Indians and wounded several of them, on 
McClure, in Buchanan county, Virginia, and recovered unhurt the 
wife and child, with the Indian baggage and all the plunder they 
had taken. 

In Se])teinber of this year, the Chickamogga Indians met Colonel 
Joseph Martin, at che Indian town, Chote, and delivered to him all 
the white prisoners in their possession.' except three, whom they 
could not possibly get to the Indian town by the time appointed ; and 
Colonel ]\Iartin, in addressing Colonel Campbell in regard to this 
subject, said: "I believe that never people were more desirous of 
peace than the Cherokees." 

Notwithstanding the disposition of the Cherokees, and their efforts 
to bring about peace, their warriors were being constantly persuaded 
by the Tories, residing in their nations, to commit depredations 
upon the frontier settlements, and, during this year, in Kentucky 
county alone, eighty-five people were killed and scalped by the 
Indians. Colonel Campbell in the fall of this year, in a letter 
addressed to a Virginia official, said: "What if it should be the 
policy of the British ministry to drive from the other side of tlie 
Appalachian mountains all the settlers, before the signing of the pre- 
liminaries of peace?" and, in the same letter, he advised a strong 
expedition against the northward Indians, and declared that the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 367 

state of our western affairs calls for the united wisdom and most 
serious attention of the Executive.' 

While the Continental army, with the assistance of the regular 
quota of troops from the Tranalleghany settlements, were repelling 
the attacks of the British and winning the liberty of our country, 
the frontiersmen of Western Viriginia and North Carolina were 
winning the great West and were repelling the assaults of the Brit- 
ish and their Indian allies. 

On Christmas day, 1782, a party of Indians attacked the house of 
John Inglis, on Clinch river> and scalped and otherwise grievously 
wounded a young man by the name of Cox, whom they overtook in 
a field, and two days thereafter, near the head of Sandy river, this 
same company of Indians overtook three hunters, two of whom they 
killed. 

Early in the year 1783, about twelve years after the first settle- 
ment at Castle's Woods, a party of northward Indians invaded the 
settlement and attacked the fort at Hamblin's Mill. 

This fort was erected by Henry Hamblin, one of the first set- 
tlers in that section, in the year 1776, with the assistance of Henry 
Dickinson, Charles Bickley, William Robertson, William Russell, 
Patrick Porter, Henry Neece, William Wharton, Humphrey Dick- 
inson, Frederick Fryley, James Bush, Archelas Dickinson, Samuel 
Ritchie, Jerry Harrold, Richard and William Long and William 
Bowlin, the first settlers in that section. 

The home of Henry Hamblin had, previously to this time, been 
twice invaded by the Indians, and in the spring of the year 1782, 
liis entire family, with the exception of a little boy, who was carried 
into captivity, were killed and scalped, and now this fort was 
again assailed by a company of Indians numbering seventeen. 

The Indians first appeared in the community at the house of 
Joseph Ray, whom they killed and scalped along with several of his 
family and a neighbor by the name of Samuel Hughes, who hap- 
pened to be at Ray's house at the time; besides killing these per- 
sons they made several others prisoners before they reached the fort. 
As they approached the fort they met a young woman by the name 
of Ann Neece, whom they tomahawked and scalped and left for 
dead. "They then approaclied the fort and were discovered by 
Simon Oscher, Henry Dickenson and Charles Bickley, who hap- 
pened to be working at a mill near by. The Indians observing them 



368 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

about the same time and the white men being unarmed, tlieir sit- 
uation was a fearful one. It was now to be a struggle which party 
should get to the fort first. Charles Bickley remarked, "Boys, follow 
me," and they all started for the fort at full speed, the Indians halt- 
ing to fire upon them. They got safely into the fort through a 
shower of balls, without receiving a scratch, thus literally running 
the gauntlet. There were but two guns in the fort, and with these 
Ocsher and Dickenson, each, killed an Indian. The balance of the 
savages knowing nothing of the strength of the fort, and their guns 
being empty, hastily picked up their fallen companions and fled 
into the woods. Meeting with a colored man who was hunting sheep, 
and who belonged to Henry Dickenson, they captured him and he 
was never heard of afterwards. 

Some hours after their departure, and while there were still appre- 
hensions of their return by the few persons in the fort, Ann Neece 
was seen slowly approaching, as bloody as if she had been dipped in 
a pool of gore. Math streams jetting from her head apparently as 
numerous as had been the hairs of her head before she was scalpefl, 
each jet about the size of a hair. She recovered, married and raised 
a family, and some of her descendants are still living in Eussell 
county."* 

Colonel Daniel Smith, upon hearing of this invasion, gathered 
a number of men and marched to Ilamblin's Mill, expecting to pur- 
sue the Indians, but when he arrived upon the scene, he ascertained 
that a party of fifteen men had some time prior to that time pursued 
the enemy. 

On the 21st day of March of the same year, notwithstanding every 
precaution had been taken by the militia officers to protect the peo- 
ple, a party of Indians had gotten in, undiscovered by the inhab- 
itants of Clinch and Blue Lick, to Walker's creek, where they killed 
one man and took his wife and two children and two children of a 
widow prisoners. Two days thereafter a man was killed on Blue- 
stone by the Indians. The Indians who made this raid were imme- 
diately pursued by experienced woodsmen, but were not overtaken. 

The locality of this Indian raid on AA^alker's creek is in Bland 
county, and the family whose head was.killed and whose wife and 
children were carried into captivity, was named White. The fol- 
lowing incident connected with the subsequent history of one of the 

*Charles B. Coale. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 369 

children capturctl by tlie Indians that day and carried into cap- 
tivity, is preserved : 

"A number of years after, dni-ing one of the expeditions by Gen- 
eral Clarke to quell the Indians in Kentucky, he had encamped on 
the banks of the Ohio, awaiting the return of the scouts who had 
been sent out to reconnoitre. One of his men by the name of White, 
from Wallvor's creek, and brother of the boy that had been stolen, was 
out a short distance from camp in search of game, when he saw 
a solitary Indian sitting on a log mending his moccasins. His first 
impulse was to shoot liim. as all tlie Indians in that region were 
hostile, but fearing the report of his gun might start up a score of 
red skins in the vicinity, and as the back of the savage was towards 
him, he concluded to approach stealthily, and capture him alive. He 
did so and took him into camp. From his hair and other indicii- 
tions, they STipiwsed him to be a white man, and after com- 
})elling him to scrub the paint off, their suspicions were confirmed. 
They subsequently learned through an interpreter, as the capti'vi^ 
had forgotten his native language, that his name was White, and 
that he had been stolen by the Indians from his home in Virginia, 
when a child. He eventually proved to be the brother ol the man 
who captured him and came so near taking his life. 

"^J'he brothers lived uiany years, settled in Kentucky, and he who 
had been so many years among the Indians was a delegate in the 
Legislature in the early organization of the State"* 

During the summer of 1780, Colonel William Campbell was 
recommended 1\v the county court and commissioned l)y tlie Gover- 
nor as Sheriff of Washington county, which office he declined, where- 
upon Daniel Smith was recommended and commissioned as Sheriff, 
which office he accej^ted, and named John Yancey and Matthew 
AVilloughby, as deputy sheriffs of the county. 

In the spring of the year 1781, the militia of Washington county 
was reorganized and divided into two battalions, which battalions 
were officered as follows : First battalion. Colonel, Walliam Camp- 
bell; Lieutenant-Colono], William Fdmiston; Major, Aaron Lewis. 
Second battalion, Colonel, Daniel Smith ; Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Joseph Martin ; Major, Thomas Mastin. 

The first battalion was composed of the militia south of the 
Clinch mountain, and the second l)attalion of officers and men north 



*Charles B. Coale. 



370 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

of Clinch moimtain; ^vhich arrangements continued without inter- 
ference until the spring of 1782, some time after the death of Gen- 
eral William Camphell, when the officers of the first battalion were 
as follows: Colonel, William Edmiston; Lieu tenant- Colonel, Aaron 
Lewis ; Major, James Dysart, and this arrangement continued until 
the end of the Eevolutionary war. 

In the spring of the year 1781, a number of gentlemen qualified 
as deputies to Robert Preston, surveyor of Washington county, tlieir 
names being : David Carson, Walter Preston, Andrew Lewis, Charles 
Campbell and Benjamin Sharp. 

Previously to the year 1781, it seems that the ministers of the dis- 
senting churches were not authorized by law to perform the rite of 
matrimony between any of the citizens of the Commonwealth, and, 
if they did so, considerable doubt was expressed as to the legality of 
the marriage. It was necessary that the marriage ceremony, to be 
legal, should be performed by a minister of the Church of England, 
and that minister, in this portion of Virginia, was the Rev. Adam 
Smyth, who lived in Botetourt county, Virginia. 

I cannot ascertain whether our early settlers were united in mar- 
riage according to the prescribed method, or whether they were 
united by the dissenting ministers, but it is certain that the situ- 
ation was such tbat the General Assembly of Virginia, at its Octo- 
ber session, 1780, enacted a law declaring what should be consid- 
ered a lawful marriage. The preamble to this act declares its object 
to be to encourage marriages and for removing doubts concerning 
the validity of marriages celebrated by ministers, other than those 
of the Church of England. By the act in question it was declared 
that it should be lawful for any minister of any congregation to 
celebrate the rite of matrimony according to the usage of the con- 
gregation to which the parties to be married respectively belonged, 
and declared such marriage, as well as those theretofore celebrated, 
to be good and valid in law. But the act provided that no person 
should be married without lawful license first had or thrice pub- 
lication of bans in the respective congregations in which the parties 
to be married severally resided, and the fee of the minister was 
fixed at tw^enty-five pounds of tobacco, and no more. The minister 
was required to make a certificate of the fact of marriage and return 
it to tlie court, there to be recorded by the clerk. 

This same act provided that the courts of the different conn- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 371 

ties shall, and are hereby authorized, on recommendation of the eld- 
ers of the several religious sects, to grant license to dissenting min- 
isters of the gospel, not exceeding the number of four of each sect 
in any one county, to join together in holy matrimony, any persons 
Avithin their counties only, which license shall be signed by the 
judge, or elder magistrate under his hand and seal. 

Pursuant to this act, the following ministers of dissenting con- 
gregations were granted license in tliis county: 

Eev. Charles Cummings, Presbyterian, 

Rev. Thomas Woolsey^ Baptist, 

Rev. Simon Cockrell, Baptist, 

Rev. Joseph Rhea, Presbyterian, 

Rev. Ebenezer Brooks, 

Rev. Timothy Burgess, Baptist, 

Rev. Thomas Brown Craighead, Presbyterian, 

Rev. John Frost, Baptist, 

Rev. Jacob Snyder, Reg. Reformed. 

At the June term of the county court of this county, the follow- 
ing orders were entered : 

"Ordered that Francis Beattie and Jonas Smith view the way for 
a road from near the junction of a path that now goes by the 
Ebbing Spring Meeting-House, and mark the said road, with blazes, 
and that Francis Beattie be the overseer of said road." 

"On motion of Ann Meek, leave is granted her to keep an ordi- 
nary at her own houses she giving bond and security according tO' 
law." 

"Ordered that Adam Hope have leave to build a mill on his own 
land." 

And at the August term, 1781, the folowing order was entered: 

"Ordered that John Yancy have a bar, clerk's seat, sheriff's box, 
tlie upper floor laid, one pair of stairs, three windows and shutters, 
for the courthouse, and prepare the prison and finish the stocks." 

And at the ]\Iarch term, 1782, the following orders were entered : 

"Ordered that two sixpence be levied on each tithable for the 
purpose of purchasing a wagon for the use of the United States." 

At this time there existed a controversy between tbe citizens of 
Washington and Montgomery counties, as to the true location of the 
dividing line between the counties, and at the May term, 1782, the 
county court of this county, agreed with the court of Montgomery 



372 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1736. 

coimty to the appointment of Hugh Fulton to run the line divid- 
ing tlu' two counties, which he did and made his report on the Gth 
day of May. 1783. The following is a copy of the courses, dis- 
tances and boundaries between the counties of Washington and 
Montgomery, as fixed by this report : 

"Eeginniug at a white walnut and buckeye at the ford of IIol- 
ston next al)ovo the Eoyal Oak, and runneth thence — N. 31 W. over 
Brushy mountain, one creek, Walker's mountain north fork of Hol- 
ston. Locust cove, Little mountain, Poor Valley creek. Clinch moun- 
tain, and the south fork of Clinch to a double and single sugar trees 
and two buckeye saplings on Bare grass hill, the west end of Mor- 
ris' knob, fifteen miles and three quarters. Thence from said knob 
north crossing the spurs of the same, and Paint Lick mountain the 
noTth fork of Clinch by John Hines' plantation, and over the river 
ridge by James Eoark's in the Baptist Valley, to a sugar tree and 
two white oaks on the head of Sandy five miles, one quarter— twenty 
poles. 

"The beginning at said walnut and buckeye above the Eoyal Oak, 
and running south, crossing the middle fork of Holston, Campbell's 
mill creek, three mountains, the south fork of Holston above Jones" 
mill, his mill creek, four mountains, Fox creek to six white pines on 
the top of Iron ]n.ountain l)y a laurel thicket, eleven miles, three 
quarters and sixty poles. 

''The distance of said line from the head of Sandy to the top of the 
Iron mountain is thirty-three miles. 

"Executed and returned, IMay tb.e Htb. 1783. 

"HUGH FULTOX." 

In the spring of the year 1783 there was a requisition upon tbe 
county lieutenant of Washington county for a troop of horse, whicb 
troop was raised, and by order of the county court entered at the 
March term, 1783. Eobei't Campbell, William Dryden a.nd Eobert 
Kennedy were appointed officers of said company. 

In the early days of our history, when any one of our citizens was 
^ sued for debt, he was arrested by the sheriff and required to give 
good security or go to jail, and it must be very interesting to the 
reader of the present day to understand the obligation that a secu- 
rity assumed at that day, and we give the following order for the 
information of the reader. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. S7^ 

In the suit of William Houston vs. Thomas Smith, for a debt the 
^following order was entered on the 19th day of September, 1783: 

"Abraham Fulkerson of this county came into court, and under- 

'takes for the defendant, that in case he shall be cast in this suit, 

■he shall satisfy and pay the condemnation of the court or render 

his body 'to prison in execution for the same, or that he, the said 

-Abrahkm Fulkerson, will do it for him." 

T^he General Assembly of Virginia, by an Act passed in the year 
hiTSl, permitted certain citizens of the Commonwealth to pay their 
^axes in such stock and provisions as could be used by the Conti- 
nental army, and in April of the year 1783 John Campbell was 
appointed a commissioner to receive these commutable articles at 
the town of Abingdon. At the same term of the court a gentle- 
man qualified to practice law, who afterwards became distinguished 
in the history of Kentucky, the Honorable John Brown. 

In the early days of the history of this county, it was customary 
for the overseers of the poor to apprentice the poor orphan children 
of the county, and the order of the court authorizing such, is clearly 
shown by an order entered at the May term, 1783, in the county 
court of this county, which is as follows : 

"Ordered that James Stuart, an orphan child of Elizabeth Baker, 
be bound to John Greenway for the term of seven years to learn the 
art and mystery of blacksmith and cutler, during which time he is 
to learn him, the said Stuart, to read and write and the five com- 
mon rules of arithmetic, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship 
he is to give him a good suit of clothes, and to get part of his learn- 
ing in the three last years of his time." 

The members of our county court in those early days detested 
the law-brealvcr and never failed to impose upon the guilty the 
punishment prescribed l)y law, and their orders indicate that they 
insisted upon a speedy execution of their judgments. 

The following order was entered by the court on the 15th day of 
July, 1783, upon the trial of a citizen of the county: 

"This day came as well the attorney for the Commonwealth as the 
fajd defcmdanti, ^vhereupon, Mary Henderson was sworn and 
examined, and the defendant heard in his own defence, on consid- 
eration whereof, it is ordered that the said defendant pay ten pounds 
in half an hour, or receive twenty lashes on his bare back well laid 
on, at the common whipping post, &c." 

The Continental Congress of the United Colonies received from 



574 



Southwest Virginia, 17 46-17 SG. 



the British government, early in the fall of 1782, a proposal for 
peace, and provisional articles were signed at Paris on the 13th day 
of November, 1783.- A proclamation declaring a cessation of hos- 
tilities was published by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia 
on the 7th day of April, 1783, and by the Governor of Virginia 
on the 21st day of April, 1783; and a permanent treaty of peace 




Whipping Post. 

Avas concluded on the 19th of April thereafter, by which treaty the 
independence of the colonies was recognized. 

Our people had demonstrated to the world that they were patriots 
and worthy of tlieir independence. They were now to demonstrate 
to the world that they were capable of forming a national character 
and that they were worthy of the blessings of liberty. 

The Continental Congress of the United Colonies, by a proclama- 
tion at a meeting on the 18th day of October, 1783, recommended 
to all the people of the colonies the celebration of the 2d day of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 375 

December, 1783, as a day of public tbanksgiving, in token of their 
gratitude to Almighty God for their deliverance and independence, 
and pursuant thereto, the people of the colonies celebrated the day 
in an appropriate manner. 

For some cause that I cannot now explain, William Edmiston, 
who was commissioned sheriff of Washington county, in the year 
1782, refused to give security for the collection of the tax as directed 
by law, but he seemed to have been permitted to execute the duties 
of the office during the year and until the 16th of March, 1784, on 
which day, James Dysart produced the Governor's commission bear- 
ing date the 8th day of December, 1783, appointing him sheriff of 
Washington county, and took the oath of office, naming Alexander 
Dojialdson, James Craig, Christopher Acklin and Joseph Snodgrass, 
deputy sheriffs, all of whom took the oath of office. At the same 
time the court required the sheriff to give security for the collection 
of the public tax for the year 1783, which security he refused to 
give, whereupon the coui't directed that the clerk cei-tify this fact 
to the Governor, along with the names of the two next oldest magis- 
tratCvS in the commission of peace and who had not yet been com- 
missioned sheriff, whereupon, the clerk, complying with the order of 
the court^ certified to the Governor, the names of John Ivinkead and 
James Montgomery, whereupon James Dysart excepted to the action 
of the court, by his counsel, John Bro^m, and gave the following- 
reasons for his non-compliance, to-wit : 

"That he did not receive his commission until some time in Feb- 
ruary, and no court being held until the present date it was utterly 
out of his power to comply with the law in making the collection 
for the year 1783; that he is'ready and will exert himself, if con- 
tinued in office, to make the collection for the present year in which 
lie received his commission, and would willingly undertake to col- 
lect arrears, if sufficient time would be given by amendment of the 
revenue law at the next meeting of the Assembly; that he humbly 
conceives that neither tlie letter nor the spirit of the law can operate 
so against him as to deprive him of his right secured by the constitu- 
tion, the authority of which he trusts will always be deemed para- 
mount to any particular act." 

The order of the court recommending John Kinkead and James 
Montgomery for the position of sheriff for the county is as follows : 

"Ordered tliat John Kinkead and James Montgomery be recom- 



376 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

mended to His Excellency the Governor as fit and capable person^ 
for sheriff of Washington county, also, that Joseph Martin stands 
first in the commission of the peace, but he being a senator for Sul- 
livan county in the State of North Carolina, we leave it to the* 
Executive to judge right." 

Notwithstanding the protest of Captain Dysart, he lost his posi- 
tion, and the Governor, on the 5th day of June, 1784, commis- 
sioned John Kinkead, but he, in turn, failed and refused to give 
tlio l)on(l ro([uired hy law, whereupon, the county court of this county 
recommended James Montgomery and Thomas Mastin, as fit and 
capable persons for sheriff of the county, and James Montgoinery 
was commissioned as such, and gave the bond required by law, on 
tlie 18th day of January, 1785. 

When Montgomery assumed the duties of this position, the peo- 
ple of Washington county had not paid their taxes for three years. 
Wliile the reason is not known, it is fair to suppose from other facts 
that are laiown, that Colonel Arthur Campbell induced Edmiston, 
Dysart and Kinkead to refuse to give the security for the collec- 
tion of the taxes, and that he prompted the people in their refusal to 
pay their taxes. 

Archibald Scott was one of the pioneers of that quiet and beau- 
tiful little valley tliat nestles between Powell's mountain and 
Walleu's ridge in Lee county, along which Wallen's creek winds 
its noisy and meandering way, and which is now the home of so 
many happpy and prosperous families. This little valley was 
selected by the first settlers for its fertility, its water facilities, its 
superior range, romantic surroundings and remoteness from the 
usual route of predatory bands of Indians, who, at that day, occa- 
sionally left their towns beyond the Ohio to prey upon the scattered 
settlers on the Holston. Mr. Scott had married Miss Fannie Dicken- 
son, of Bussell county, many of whose relatives are still living there. 
Being the daughter of one of the l)rave and hardy pioneers of Castle's 
Woods, she had been reared among the dangers and excitements of 
frontier life, and hence was a companion upon Avhose coolness and 
fortitude her fearless and enterprising husband could depend in their 
new home on the verge of civilization. They removed to it in 1782 
just five years after Daniel Boone had passed along the same trace 
with his family on their way to the wilderness beyond the Cumber- 
land, and twelve vears before the Indian raid on the Livingston 



Washington Comity, 1777-1870. 377 

family on Holston. He located a corn right to all that valuable 
tract of one thousand acres subsequently owned by Mr. Eobert Duff, 
and still in the possession of Mr. Duff's descendants. Mr. Scott 
erected his cabin on the head waters of Wallen's creek, near the spot 
now occupied by the residence of Mr. Thomas D. Duff. 

Here, with his wife and little ones, he was living on the rewards of 
honest toil, and doubtless looking forward with prophetic vision to 
the day, not far in the future, when that rich and romantic valley' 
reposing so quietly among the mountains, would teem with wealth 
and a happy population. He bared his brawny arm and cleared the 
forest, and for three years his cabin was the home of contentment, 
plenty and domestic joys. On June 30, 1785, the family, after a day 
of toil and after partaking of their frugal meal, had retired to rest, 
without a thought perhaps of impending danger, and dreaming per- 
chance of the luxuriant harvest so soon to be reaped and garnered. 
That pleasant summer day, as Mr. Scott was toiling amid tlie grow- 
ing corn, he was seen and watched by a band of about twenty Shaw- 
nese Indians, who, by some means, had been diverted from their 
usual route, and, having observed the smoke rising from the cabin, 
were attracted towards it, and lay in ambush on the mountain side 
till night spread her curtain over the valley. When all was quiet 
they approached and entered, and the first notice that the hus- 
band and father had of their presence was the gleam of the toma- 
hawk that killed him in his bed. The leader of the band was the 
notorious and cruel half-breed Benge, who was killed six years there- 
after, not many miles from the same place, as he was making his 
way to Big Stone Gap, with the Livingston captives. After scalping 
Mr. Scott they murdered and scalped his five children, plundered 
and burned the cabin, took Mrs. Scott prisoner, and started back on 
their long journey to their towns beyond the Ohio. Her suffering 
during this journey over steep mountains and through deep and 
rapid streams was indescribable. When faint and weary and foot- 
sore, she failed to travel as rapidly as her captors desired, they would 
slap her in the face with the bloody scalps of her husband and 
children. Being a woman of great strength, activity and nerve, she 
bore up wonderfully, and even surprised the savages l)y her endu- 
rance. 

After traveling about two hundred miles and reaching oiu^ of their 
fa\orite hunting grounds in Kentucky, not far from the Ohio, they 



378 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

stopped a few days to rest and hunt. It was decided among them, 
that one of the Indians, when they reached their town on the Miami, 
should have their captive for a wife, and hence he was designated 
to guard her while the rest were engaged in the hunt. Some hours 
after they left, the Indian on guard fell into a profound sleep. See- 
ing which and making a noise that did not seem to disturb his slum- 
bers, she determined to kill him with his own tomahawk which lay 
by his side, and then try to escape. She took the weapon and raised 
it above his head; but, being weak and nervous from fatigue and 
distress of mind, she feared she might not be able to strike a fatal 
blow and concluded to make an effort to escape. She made her way 
to' a spring a short distance from the camp, waded along the branch 
to conceal her trail, and was soon safe from the pursuit of her 
guard in a thick cane-brake. Hearing those who were hunting not 
a great way off, she wait'^d until their whooping died in the dis- 
tance, when she started out on the long and perilous journey towards 
the Cumberland mountain, the dim outlines of which she had seen 
as she crossed an elevation. For weeks she wandered through the 
unbroken forest without food and almost destitute of raiment, sub- 
sisting on berries, barks and roots, and many days wandering so 
much out of her way as to make but a mile or two. Finally coming 
to a river (supposed to be the Kentucky), she found a path on the 
bank which she followed. One morning while following the path 
up the stream, she heard a himting party meeting her, and seeing 
a large sycamore near the path, she stepped behind it and fortu- 
nately found it hollow where she concealed herself, until the Indian? 
had passed. A day or two after this and before she had reached the 
head waters of the stream, she heard the Indians on her trail with 
dogs. She crawled into a hollow log that lay across the path, over 
which some of them jumped their ponies, and others passed around 
the end without discovering her. 

After the Indians had disappeared, she followed on very cautiously 
till she came to where the path forked. This perplexed her some- 
what, not knowing which to take. She finally took the left, which 
seemed to be the plainest, when a bird flew past, touched her shoulder 
and lighted in the other path. She kept on, however, but had pro- 
ceeded but a few steps when the bird repeated its singndar action. 
Tliis led her to stop and reflect, and. coming to the conclusion that 
the bird was the spirit of one of her murdered children come to 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 379 

guide her through tlie wilderness, she took the other path, which 
proved to be the right one, and led her through wdiat is now known 
as Pound Gap. She eventually made her wa}^ into Castle's Woods, 
where many of her relatives resided and still reside. 

After some years, Mrs. Scott married Mr. Thomas Johnson, for 
who'm the county of Johnson in Tennessee was called. She raised a 
family of children, all of whom married and became useful and 
respectable members of society. She lived to an advanced age, and 
her ashes now repose on a little hillock near the old blacksmith shop, 
not far from the base of Clinch mountain at Hayter's Gap, in Eus- 
sell county, Virginia."* 

In addition to the facts contained in this account as preserved by 
Mr. Coale, we are able to give from reliable documentary authority, 
the following: 

"Another house stood by the residence of Archil^ald Scott, in 
which was a little girl eleven or twelve years old, with her brother 
some years younger than herself. 

"Into this house the Indians did not enter for some reason, but 
shot through the door and killed the boy, whereupon the girl 
sprang out at a window and hid in a nursery of young poach trees 
til] the Indians were gone. She then re-entered the house, laid out 
her dead brother, and sat by hiin all night, and till late the next day, 
when a party of men arrived to bury the dead." 

The history of Washington county from this time henceforth, will 
be uninteresting as compared with that portion of our history with 
which we have been dealing. 

In April of the year 1784, a number of depredations were com- 
mitted by the Indians in Powell's Valley and on the Kentucky road. 
A boy was killed and a girl taken prisoner in Powell's Valley, and 
a man and a Avoman and two children were killed in the winter of 
1 784, on the Kentucky road by a party of Cherokees under a young 
Indian cliief by the name of Eattlesnake, and within the same year 
three men were killed near Cumberland Gap, by the Creeks, and a 
boy killed and scalped and an arrow left in his breast on Powell's 
liver. 

In the year -1783, the Governor and Council of Virginia authorized 
the building of a fort at Cumberland Gap, on the Virginia side of 
the line, which fort was erected under the supervision of Colonel 



*Charles B. Coale. 



380 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Joseph Martin in the fall of 1783. This fort was intended to be 
the residence of Colonel Joseph Martin, the Virginia Commissioner 
to the Indians, who of necessity had to remove from Long Island, 
then ascertained to be in the State of iSTorth Carolina. Into this 
fort there gathered about one hundred persons, and upon the ont- 
break of hostilities, it was with dilBculty that they could be prevented 
from breaking up. Captain James Shelby had been killed near this 
station on his way to Washington county, and a man had been-killed 
on the north fork of Holston river on tbc oth of April, and ten days 
afterward a man was wounded ^^■it]l arrows on the head waters of 
Clincli. 

In Septeml)er of the year 1784, a party of Shawnese Indians 
ascended the Sandy river and, passing over to the head of Clinch, 
divided into small parties to steal horses and annoy the settlers. One 
of these parties came to the present location of Tazewell courthouse, 
where they visited the home of Andrew Davidson. Davidson's fam- 
ily consisted of a wife and three children, two small girls and a boy 
and two orphan children by the name of Broomfield. Mr. Davidson 
was absent from his home at the time of which we are speaking. 
AVhen the Indians appeared at the house they informed Mrs. David- 
son that she must go with them to their home in the West, and there 
being nothing else that she could do, she took up her youngest child, 
the Indians carrying the others, and began the journey. Mrs. 
Davidson received kinder treatment at the hands of the Indians than 
she expected, and proceeded on the way to their homes beyond the 
Ohio. But, when the Indians arrived at their homes they took Mrs. 
Davidson's two little girls, tied them to trees and shot them before 
her eyes. The boy was given to an old Indian squaw and was soon 
after\^-ards accidentally drowned, Mrs. Davidson was sold to a 
Frenchman living in Canada, where she was found by her husband 
after several years and returned to her home. Another company 
of Indians at the same time killed William Whitley, who lived in 
Baptist Valley. 'I^hey mutilated his body in a terrible manner; his 
bowels were torn out and stretched upon the bushes ; his heart was in 
one place and his liver in another. Another company of this same 
band of Indians discovered Henry Harman and his two sons, George 
and IMatliias, and George Draper hunting in a section of country 
thi-ough which the Indian trail led. Harman and his associates 
were not expecting Indians so late in the season, and early in the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 381 

morning they built their camp. Harman's two sons had gone out 
to see whether they coukl fiiid game, w^hen, to their surprise, they 
diseovered an Indian camp but a short distance from their own, 
M'ith every indication of the very recent presence of tJic Indians. 
Tliey returned to camp and reported what tliey had found; where- 
iiyjon the hunters immediately proceeded to return to the settlements. 
They had not proceeded far before they Avere fired upon by the 
Indians from behind a log, whereupon, the Indians immediately 
advanced on Henry Ilaruiau. who fell back to where his sons stood 
ready to meet the Indians. A right brisk fight took place, a 
description of which is as follows: 

"l^he Indians immediately surrounded the white men, who had 
formed a triangle, each man looking out, of what would have been 
witli men enough, a hollow square. The old gentleman bade ]\Iathias 
to reserve his fire, while himself and Gieorge fired, Avounding, as it 
would seem, two of the Indians. George was a lame man from hav- 
ing had white swelling in his childhood, and after firing a few rounds 
the Indians noticed his limju'ng, and one who had fired at him, 
rushed iipon him thinking him wounded. George saw the fatal 
tomahawk raised, and drawing back his gun prepared to meet it. 
When the Indian had got within striking distance, George let down 
upon his head wath the gun, which brmight him to the ground ; he 
soon recovered and made at him again, half bent and head fore- 
most, intending, no doubt, to ti-i}) him up, but as he got near enough, 
George sprang up and jumped across him, which brought the Indian 
to his knees. Feeling for his own knife and not getting hold of it, 
he seized the Indian's and plunged it deep into his side. Mathias 
struck him on the head with a tomahawk, and finished the work 
with him. 

"TwO' Indians had attacked Ihe old man with bows, and were 
iiianoeuvering ai'ouud him, to get a clear fire at his left breast. The 
Ihirmans, to a man, wore their bullet pouches on the left side, and 
with this and his arm he sO' completely shielded his breast, that the 
Indians did not fire until they saw the old gentleman's gun nearly 
loaded again, when one fired on him and struck his elbow near the 
joint, cutting one of the principal arteries. In a second more the 
fearful string was heard to vibrate, and an arrow entered Mr. Har- 
man's breast and lodged against a rib. He had by this time loaded 
a gun, and was raising it to his face to shoot one of the Indians,, 



382 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

when the stream of blood from tlie wovmded artery flew into the 
pan, and so soiled his gun that it was impossible to make it fire. 
Eaising the gun, liowever, had the effect to drive back the Indians, 
who retreated to where the others stood with their guns empty. 

"JMathias wlio had remained an almost inactive spectator, now 
asked permission to fire, which the old man granted. The Indian 
at whom he fired appeared to be the chief and was standing under 
a large beach tree. At the report of the rifle, the Indian fell, throw- 
ing his tomahawk high among the limbs of the tree under which he 
stood. 

"Seeing two of their number lying dead upon the ground, and two 
more badly wounded, they immediately made off', passing by Draper, 
who had left his horse, and concealed himself behind a log."* 

Draper, as soon as the Indians had passed him, fled to the set- 
tlements and reported that Harman and his sons were killed. A 
number of people set out the next morning to bury the dead, when to 
their surprise they met Harman and his sons returning to their 
homes. 

This same body of Indians sent three of their number into Abb's 
Valley, where resided Captain James Moore and John Poage. Near 
the home of Captain James Moore, they captured his son, James 
Moore, Jr., a bo}^, fourteen years old. They took the young man to 
a field where his father's horses were running at large, and tried to 
capture the horses, failing in which they proceeded on their jour- 
ney to the Ohio. When they came near their towns in Ohio, the 
Indians painted themselves black, but did not paint the boy. The 
chief sold young Moore to his half-sister, who afterwards sold him 
to a French trader at Detroit, where young Moore met a trader 
from Kentucky, who knew Ms father and whom he requested to 
write to his father and inform him of his situation. He remained 
in captivity until Octolier, 1789, and returiied to his home in Taze- 
well county three years after the murder and captivity of his father 
and family. 

Early in the year of 1786, another party of Indians visited the 
home of Captain James Moore in Abb's A^alley, an account of which 
visit has been preserved, which I give in full: 

"In July, 1786, a party of forty-seven Indians, of the Shawnese 
tribe, again entered Abb's Valley. Captain James Moore usually 



P.ickley's History of Tazewell. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 383 

kept five or six loaded guns in his house, whicli was a strong log 
building, and hoped, b}^ the assistance of his wife, who was very 
active in loading a gun, together with Simpson, a man who lived 
with them, to be able to repel the attacks of any small party of 
Indians. Eelying on his prowess, he had not sought refuge in a 
fort, as many of the settlers had ; a fact of which the Indians seemed 
to be aware, from their cutting out the tongues of his horses and 
cattle, and partially skinning them. It seems they were afraid to 
attack him ojieulv, and sought rather to drive him to the fort, that 
they might sack his house. 

"On the morning of the aftack. Captain ]\Ioorc, who had pre- 
viously distinguished himself at Alamance, was at a lick bog a short 
distance from his house, salting his horses, of .which he had many. 
William Clark and an Irishman were reaping wheat in front of the 
house. ]\Irs. j\Toore and the family were engaged in the ordinary 
business of housework. A man named Simpson was sick upstairs. 

"The two men who were in the field at work saw the Indians 
coming at full speed down the hill toward Captain Moore, who had, 
ere this, discovered them and started in a run for the house. He 
was, however, shot through his body and died immediately. Two 
of his children, William and Eebecca, who were returning from the 
spring, were killed about the same time. The Indians had now 
approached near the house and were met by two fierce dogs, which 
fought manfully to protect the family of. their master. After a 
severe contest the fiercest one was killed and the other subdued. 

"The two men who were reaping, hearing the alarm and seeing the 
house surrounded, fled and alarmed the settlement. At that time 
the nearest family was distant about six miles. As soon as the 
alarm was given Mrs. Moore and Martha Ivens (who was living in 
the family), barred the door, but this was of no avail. There was 
no man in the house at this time except John Simpson, the old 
Englishman already alluded to, and he was in the loft sick and 
in bed. There were five or six guns in the house, but, having been 
shot off the evening before, they were then empty. They intended 
to load them after breakfast. Martha Ivens took two of the guns 
and went upstairs where Simpson was, and, Iianding them tc 
him, told him to shoot. He looked wj). but had been shot in the 
head through a crack and was then near his end. The Indians then 
proceeded to cut down the door, which they soon effected. During 



384 Soutkivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

this time Martha Ivens went to the far end of the house, lifted iip a 
loose plank, and went under the floor and requested Polly Moore 
(then eight years old), who had the youngest child, called Margaret. 
in her arms (which was crying), to set the child down and come 
under. Polly looked at the child, and clasped it to her breast, and 
determined to share its fate. The Indians, having broken into the 
house, took Mrs. Moore and her children — viz.; John, Jane, Polly 
and Peggy, prisoners, and having taken everything that suited them, 
they set it and the other buildings on fire, and went away. Martha 
Ivens remained under the floor a short time and then came out 
and hid herself under a log that lay across a branch not far from 
the house. The Indians having tarried a short time with a view of 
catching horses, one walked across on this log, sat down on one end 
of it and began to fix his gunlock. Miss Ivens supposing that she 
was discovered and that he was preparing to shoot her, came out 
and gave herself up. At this he seemed much pleased. They then 
set out for their towns. Perceiving that John Moore was a boy, 
weak in body and mind and unable to travel, they killed him the 
first day. The ba})e they took two or three days, but, it being fret- 
ful on account of a wound it had received, they dashed its brains 
out against a tree. They then moved on with haste to their towns. 
For some time it was usual to tie very securely each of the prisoners 
at night, and for a warrior to lie beside each of them, with toma- 
hawk in hand, so that in case of pursuit, the prisoner might be 
speedily dispatched. 

"Shortly after they reached the towns, ]\Irs. Moore and her daugh- 
ter Jane were put to death, being burned and tortured at the stake. 
This lasted some time, during which she manifested the utmost 
Christian fortitude and bore it without a murmur, at intervals con- 
versing with her daughter Polly and Martha Ivens, and expressing 
great anxiety for the moment to arrive when her soul should wing 
its way to the bosom of its Saviour. At length an old squaw, more 
humane than the rest, dispatched her with a tomahaAvk. 

"Polly Moore and Martha Ivens eventually reached home, as 
described in the narrative of James Moore. 

"Several incidents in this narrative have been left out. When the 
Indians set fire to the house and started, they took from the stable 
the fine black horse Yorick. He was a horse of such a vicious nature 
that no one but Simpson could manage him. The Indians had not 



Washington County, 1777-1870. ^ 385 

proceeded far wlien one mounted him, but soon the horse had him 
on the ground and was pawing him to death witli his feet; for this 
purpose a few strokes were sufficient. Another mounted him and 
was served in like manner. Perfectly wild Avith rage, a very large 
Indian mounted him, swearing to ride him or kill him. A few 
]ilunges and the Indian was under tlie feet of the desperate hoTse- 
liis teeth buried in his flesh, and uttering a scream as if he intended 
to avenge the death of his master, he had just dispntehed the Indian 
wlien another, running u]i, stal)))ed liiui, and tlius ]uit an end to 
the conflict. 'Alas ! poor Yorick.' 

"It is said that Mrs. Moore had her body stuck full of lightwood 
s])linters which were fired, and she was thus tortured three days 
before she died. 

"When Martha Ivens and Polly ]\toore were among the French 
they fared much worse than Avhen among the Indians. The French 
had ]ilenty. but were miserly, and seemed to care little for their 
wants. The Indians had little, but would divide that little to the 
last ]iarticle."* 

In Api'il, 17(S'). ^lathias Ilarinau and Benjamin Thomas, two 
scouts employed I)y the authorities of Pussell county, visited the 
house of a man liy the name of Dials, now in Tazewell county. 
Dials kept liquor for sale, and Thomas and Harman were soon intox- 
icated. Mrs. Dials was making preparations for dinner, when Dials 
and Thomas left the house to obtain Avood. When they reached the 
mouth of a lane about two hundred yards from the house, they were 
lired u]ion by a party of six or seven Indians; several of the shot 
struck Dials, and one of the warriors pursued him, in the direction 
of his house. When they approached the house the Indian gave 
up the pursuit, as he was aware of Harman's presence at the house, 
and Dials reached the corner of the house, where he fell dead against 
the chimney. Thomas was fired at, but Avas not shot ; he Avas, hoAV- 
ever, during the pursuit, knocked down by the Indian, scalped and 
left for dead. Thomas died seven days thereafter. 

Harman, Avho was very much intoxicated at that time, ran out 
of the house, mounted his horse and pursued the Indians, challeng- 
ing them to stop and fight, which they declined. About this time 
some Cherokee Indians killed tAvo men. near the the end of Clinch 
mountain. The militia from the surroamding country combined 



*Bickley's History of Tazewell. 



386 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

and marched within fifteen miles of their town, when they sent for 
Old Tassel, The Hanging Man and other Indian chiefs, to 
come to them, which they did, and informed the white people that 
this mnrder was done by two or tliree Indian fellows who lived in 
a town called Caw-a-tie, about twenty miles below Chote, and that 
they had been hired to do so by an old fellow from Chickamogga, 
who had two sons killed by the white people last spring. The 
Indian chiefs informed the white people that their desire was for 
peace, but the white people answered that they would have their 
lands, to which tlie Indians replied that they had no right to give 
them their land, whereupon the whites immediately marched into 
their towns, which they destroyed, along with a part of their corn, 
and killed and shot several Indians. About this same time, 
William Martin, a son of Colonel Joseph Martin, was killed by the 
Creek Indians while on his way to Georgia, and a whole company 
of settlers, except a woman, were killed near Chickamogga; and a 
son of Tom Wallen was shot near his father's home, but made his 
escape. 

The settlers on the Blue Stone (now in Tazewell county, Va.), 
being the principal sufferers by the Indian invasions, in August of 
this year forwarded a petition to the Executive of Virginia, stating 
their position on the frontiers and asking for protection against the 
Indians, "from whose cruelties they had lately been great sufferers. 
The settlement had become much weaker on account of these attacks 
and was not able to protect itself longer without prompt aid from 
the government. Upon the approach of danger, the inhabitants are 
required to betake themselves and families to tlie forts, thus expos- 
ing their effects and property to the marauders, and, being few in 
number and scattered, they are unable to pursue and punish their 
enemies. Unless some suitable and regular method foT the defence 
of the county be adopted at once, they should be obliged to abandon 
their homes, and thus expose to the savages the more interior parts 
of the country." 

In answer tO' this petition, the Governor of Virginia directed the 
county-lieutenant of Eussell county to call out forty men for the 
protection of the frontiers of the county and three sets of spies, one 
for the upper part of the county, one for the lower part of the county, 
and another at Castle's Woods. The frontiers of Russell county, at 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 387 

this time, were 140 miles in length, extending from the Montgom- 
ery county line to Martin's Station in Powell's Valley. 

On the 17th day of March, 1785, the Indians visited the house 
of John Wallen, about fifteen miles from Martin's Station, and 
killed and scalped his wife, and a Mrs. Cox was shot at by three 
Indians. On the 24th day of March two families were captured by 
three Indians in New Garden, about twenty miles from Abingdon, 
the two families consisting of fifteen persons. 

In the fall of this year the smallpox broke out in the Indian 
iiation, spreading rapidly and causing so much distress that the 
"Eaven of Chickamogga," the chief of the Chickamogga Indians, 
addressed a peace talk to the Virginia Commissioner, which was as 
follows : 

"Brother, — I am now going to speak to you about powder. I have 
in my towns six hrmdred good hunters, and we have very little pow- 
der. I hope you will speak to jny elder brother of Virginia, to take 
pity on us, and send us as much as will make our fall's hunt. He 
will hear you. We are very poor, but don't love to beg, which our 
brother laiows, as I have never asked him for anything else before. 
I thank him however for all his past favors to the old towns. I 
hope he will not refuse this favor I ask of him, I have taken Virginia 
by the hand, and I do not want to turn my face another way, to 
a strange people. The Spaniards have sent to me to come and speak 
to them. I am not going, but some of my people have gone to hear 
what they have to say. I am sitting still at home with my face 
towards my elder brother of Virginia, hoping to hear from him soon. 
I will not take of any strange people till I hear from him. Tell him 
that when I took hold of your hand, I looked on it as if he had 
been there. The hold is strong and lasting. I have with this talk 
sent you a long string of white beads as a confirmation of what I 
say. My friendship shall be as long as the beads remain white. 

"A STEING." 

Colonel Martin was disposed to listen to the professions of the 
Indians and was making preparations to furnish them with the pow- 
der which they requested, when a party of Indians appeared upon 
the Clinch and chased a son of Frederick Fryly and ran him until 
within sight of his father's house. Numerous signs ol Indians were 
discovered down Sandy river, and the whole of the frontiers was 



388 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

thrown into great disorder. In July of the year 1785, several mer- 
chants from Baltimore opened a very large store at Korth Fork, 
two miles below the Long Island of Holston, this being the first store 
opened in that section of the country. At the election held in the 
year 1785, for Washington county. Colonel William Eussell and 
Andrew Kincannon, were elected to represent Washington county, in 
the House of Delegates. One of the first measures proposed by Col- 
onel Eussell, upon the assembling of the General Assembly in the 
fall of that year, was a bill having for its purpose the division of 
Washington county, which bill was favorably reported and after- 
wards, on January 2, 178G, passed by the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia and approved by the Governor. By this bill it was provided 
that, from and after the first day of May, 1786, the county of Wash- 
ington shall be divided into two distinct counties, that is to say : all 
that part of said county lying within a line to be run along Clinch 
mountain to the Carolina line, thence with that line to the Cumber- 
land mountain, and the extent of the country between the Cum- 
berland mountain. Clinch mountain and the line of Montgomery 
county, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the 
name of Eussell, and the residue shall retain the name of Washing- 
ton. The same bill directed the first court of said county to be held 
at the house of William Eoberson in Castle's Woods, on the second 
Tuesday in May, 1786. 

Pursuant to this Act of the Assembly, the first court of Eussell 
county assembled at the house of William Eoberson, in Castle's 
Woods, on May 9th, which court was composed of the following 
gentlemen : 

x\lexander Barnett, Henry Smith, 

David Ward, Andrew Cowan, 

Samuel Eitchie, Thomas Carter, 

Henry Dickenson, John Thompson, 

and, subsequently within the same year, the following gentlemen 

were commissioned and added to the court : 

Charles Bickley, James Wharton, 

Eichard Price, John Frazer, 

William Martin, Charles Cocke, 

iThristopher Cooper, John Tate, 

John Bowen. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 389 

At the same time the following officers qualified : 
Sheriff, David Ward. 

Deputy Sheriffs, Kobert Craig, Charles Carter and John Carter. 
Clerk County Court, Henry Dickenson. 

Commissioners of the Ecvenue, Samuel Eitchie and Patrick Por- 
ter. 

County Surveyor, Henry Smith. 
County Lieutenant, Alexander Barnett. 
Colonel of Militia- Henry Smith. 
Lieutenant- Colonel of Militia, Andrew Cowan. 
Major, Charles Cocke. 

Captains of Militia. y 

David Ward, William Thompson, 

William Dorton, Charles Bickley, 

Francis Browning, James Davidson, 

Samuel Eitchie, Josiah Fugate, 

William Martin. 
Lieutenants of Militia. 
John Bowen, Charles Hays, 

John Tate, James Osbourne, 

Samuel Eoherson, ]^lisha Farris, 

Thomas Carter, Moses Skeggs, 

John Van Bebber. 

Ensigns of Militia. : 

Samuel Young, John Thompson, 

Eobert Tate, Henry Hamblin, 

Solomon Litton, William Byrd, 

• Benjamin Kichalson, Joseph Johnston, 

William Ewing. 
Coroner, Francis Browning. 

The following laAvyers qualified to practice in the court of Eussell 
in the year 1786 : 

Andrew Moore, Francis Preston, 

Ephraim Dunlop, James Blair, 

David Dimnan. 

The county court jiroceeded to^ select a permanent location for the 
courthouse, when Henry Dickenson, the clerk of the court, offered 
to gi\e to the county a tract of land at what has since been known 
as Dickensonville, which offer the court accepted, and proceeded to 



390 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

erect the necessary buildings thereon, and the court of Eussell 
county assembled at Dickensonville or Enssell's old courthouse on 
the 26th day of September, 1787. 

By the organization of this new county- a great extent of coun- 
tr}^ and many valuable citizens were lost to Washington county. 

Information in regard to the history of Washington county sub- 
sequent to the year 1786 is exceedingly hard to obtain, as the minute 
books of the county court from the year 1786 to the year 1819 and 
from the year 1821 until 1832 were destroyed along with the court- 
house by the Federal troops in December, 1864. 

Such history as I have been able to obtain for the period men- 
tioned has been derived fro'm the records at Eichmond and from an 
examination of the files of the Holston Intelligencer and the Politi- 
cal Prospect, newspapers published in Abingdon and covering the 
period from 1810 to 1815. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 391 



CtlAPTEE VIII. 

EFFORT TO ESTABLISH A NEW STATE. 

In tl;G month of January, 1781, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia passed a resolution expressing her willingness to cede her 
northwest territory to the Congress of the colonies, for the benefit 
of the United Colonies, npon the following condition, to-wit: that 
the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into States con- 
taining a suitable extent of territory, and shall not be less than 
one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square or 
as near thereto as circumstances will admit. That the States so 
formed shall be distinct republican States and be admitted mem- 
bers of the Federal Union, having the same right of sovereignty, 
freedom and independence as the other States. 

Colonel Arthur Campbell, immediately upon his acquisition of 
this information, with a vision that was almost prophetic, set about 
to organize a new State and to include Washington county in the 
same. He immediately proposed a scheme for obtaining the sense 
of the inhabitants of tlie western country on the subject of the Vir- 
ginia resolution and the resolves of the Congress upon the same sub- 
ject, his scheme being as follows : 

"First. That Selectmen or Deputies be chosen for the five south- 
western counties of Virginia and the counties of Washington and 
Sullivan in North Carolina, to meet at Abingdon the third Wed- 
nesday in April, 1782. 

"Second. That in order that the representation be adequate, let 
the Deputies be in number in proportion to the number of farm- 
ers above eighteen years of age, allowing one Deputy for every hun- 
dred such farmers. 

"Third. That the election be held at the respective Court Ho'uses, 
the third Tuesday in the month of March next, 1782, by the same 
officers and under the same regulations as elections for delegates 
are held. 

"Fourth. That the business and power of the deputies when con- 
vened be confined to the consideration of the late resolves of Con- 
gress respecting the Western Country, and that they adopt such 
measures as may be adjudged proper by a majority, for the interest 
and safety of their constituents as members of the American Union. 



392 Southwest Virginia, 17J+6-17S6. 

"Fifth. That the representation continue one 3^ear, in which time 
the Deputies may adjourn from time to time, and to such places 
within the Western Countries as may be found most convenient. 

"The day appointed for the election is the second Tuesday in 
March, 1783." 

I am unable to state that the election was held at the time pro- 
posed by Colonel Campbell, on the third Tuesday in March, 1783, 
or that the Assembly proposed by him met at Abingdon on the 
third Wednesday in April, 1783, as therein proposed, but I can say 
that an election Avas held and that an Assembly met at Abingdon 
in this or the following year in the manner proposed by Colonel 
Campbell. I am of the opinion that this election was held in 1783, 
as proposed by Colonel Campbell, as four members of the Assembly 
that met at Abingdon were citizens of Sullivan county, Korth Caro- 
lina, and it is reasonable to suppose that had the State of Frankland 
been proposed or organized at the time of this election the Sullivan 
cO'Unty citizens would have united with that State. 

The Assembly that met at Abingdon in the year 1783 
adopted a memorial, which they addressed to the Congress of the 
United States of America, and which was as follows : 

MEMORIAL. 

To the Honorable the Congress of tlie United States of America: 

The memorial of the Freemen inhabitating the Country Westward 
of the Alleghany or Appalachian mountain, and Southward of the 
Ouasioto* Humbly shewxth : 

That having been made acquainted with the several resolves and 
other Acts of Congress, respecting Western Territory, and having 
considered maturely the contents of the same, we are highly pleased 
with that equal respect for the Liberties of the people, which seems 
to influence the Councils of Congress. That nothing but a firm ad- 
herence to the principles of the Confederation, and a sacred regard 
to the rights of Mankind could produce the late Eesolves for laying 
off new. Independent States, thereby pointing out such effectual 
measures, to prevent the encroachments of arbitrary power on the 
Asylums of Freedom. 

That we are happy to find so large a part of Territory already 
ceded to the United States for National purposes, and trust that 



*Tndian name for Cumberland mountain. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 393 

every obstacle will speedily be removed for the completion of that 
business by the individual States affected thereby. That we are too 
much elated at the prospect before us not to wish that we may 
speedily enjoy the advantages of sucli a Government as will be ex- 
ercised over a convenient territory, not too small for the support of 
authority, nor too large for the security of Freedom. 

That our situation is such, inhabiting valleys intermixed with 
and environed by vast wilds of barren and inaccessible mountains, 
that the same compensation of latitude allotted to the new States 
ISTorthwe^t of the Ohio, might prevent us from ever being on an 
equal footing with our neighboi'S, blessed with so many natural ad- 
vantages, navigable waters, and a level, fertile country. 

That the state boimded by a meridian line that will touch the 
confluence of Little river, near Inglis' Ferry, thence down the Ka- 
nawha to the Eonceverte or Green Briar river, thence Southwest to 
latitude 37 North, thence along the same to the meridian of the 
rapids of the Ohio, South along the Meridian until it reaches the 
Tenasee or Cherokee river, down the same, and eastwardly on that 
parallel to the top of the Appalachian mountains, and along the 
highest parts of the same, and the heights that divide the sources of 
the waters that fall into the Mississippi from those that empty into 
the Atlantic to the beginning. This, though not equal in quantity 
of habitable lands with the adjoining States, yet may be sufficient 
territory for a society that wishes to encourage industry and tem- 
perance as cardinal virtues. 

That in our present settlements we have maintained our ground 
during the late perilous war, and frequently gave effectual aid to 
our Brethren to the South and Westward; that we are first occu- 
pants and aborigines of this country. Freemen, claiming natural 
rights and the privileges of American citizens. 

Our prayer therefore is, that your Honorable Body, with a gen- 
erous regard to the Eights of Mankind, would speedily erect the 
aforesaid described Territory into a free and independent State, 
sTibject to the Federal Bond, and likewise confirm and guarantee to 
its inhabitants all their equitable rights and privileges acquired 
under the laws of the States lately claiming this Territory; that 
the disposition of the vacant lands be under the power of the Leg- 
iplaturo of the new State, in as full a manner as that exercised by 
such of the Eastern States having unappropriated lands, with this 



394 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Eesen^ation, that the monies arising from the sale of vacant lands 
shall be faithfully paid to the order of Congress, towards the pay- 
ment of the ISTational debt. 

And your Memorialists shall ever pray, &c. 

Approved and subscribed by us in behalf of ourselves and the 
Freemen of our Eespective Districts, whoni we represent. 
Charles Cummings, Chairman. 

John Jameson, Jolin Campbell, 

Alex'r Wiley, Robert Buchanan, 

George Finley, William Tate, 

Arthur Campbell, John Kinkead, 

John Campbell, S'n'r, R. 0. Tliomas Woolsey, 
John Davis, Ricliard Erownlow, 

Gilbert Christian, Matthew Willoughby, 

David Looney, John Anderson, 

John Adair. 

At a subsequent meeting this Assembly addressed the Freemen of 
Washington county on the subject of their public affairs, which ad- 
dress is as follows : 
"To the Freemen of Washington County : 

"Your Deputies, after mature consideration, have agreed to ad- 
dress you on the subject of your Public Affairs, well knowing tliat 
there is only wanting an exact and candid examination into the 
facts to know Avhether you have been well served or abused by your 
Representatives, whether Government has been wisely administered 
and whether your rights and Liberties are secure. As members of 
the Civil Society, you will acknowledge that there are duties of im- 
portance and lasting obligation which must take place before indi- 
vidual conveniences or private interest, but it must be granted that 
in free Communities the laws are only obligatory when made con- 
sonant with the constitution or Original Compact; for it is the only 
means of the surrender then made, the power therein given and the 
right ariseth to Legislate at all. Hence it is evident that the power 
of Legislators is in the nature of trusts to form Regulations for the 
good of the whole, agreeable to the powers delegated, and the de- 
posite put into the General stock, and the end proposed is to' obtain 
the greatest degree of happiness and safety, not for the few but 
for the many. To attain these ends and these only, men are in- 
duced to give up a portion of their natural Liberty and Property 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 395 

when they enter into society. From this it is plain that Killers may 
exceed their trust, may invade the remaining portion of natural 
libert}^ and property, which would be a usurpation, a breach of 
solemn obligation and ultimately a conspiracy against the majesty 
of the people, the only treason that can be committed in a common- 
wealth. A much admired writer on the side of Liberty begins 
his work with the following remarkable sentence, which we tran- 
scribe for your information, and entreat you tO' read and ponder 
well: 

"In every human Society there is an effort continually pending 
to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and re- 
duce the other to extremes of weakness and misery. The intent of 
good laws is to oppose these Efforts, and to diffuse their influence 
uniA'ersally and equally. But men generally abandon the care of 
tlieir most important concerns to the uncertain prudence and discre- 
tion of -those whose interest it is to reject the best and wisest in- 
structions, and it is not until they have been led into a thousand 
mistakes in matters the most essential to their lives and Liberties, 
and are weary of suffering, that they can be induced tO' apply a 
remedy to the evils with which they are oppressed. It is then they 
begin to conceive and acknowledge the most palpable truths, which 
from their very simplicity commonly escape vulgar minds, in- 
capable of analyzing objects, accustomed to receive impressions with- 
out discretion, and to be determined rather by opinions of others, 
than by the result of their own examination." 

A few plain Questions you may honestly put to yourselves when 
in retirement, or when your heads are reclined on your pillows ; For 
what end hath the Almighty wrought out such a wonderful revo- 
lution in the affairs of men as that of the Independence of America? 
What part ought I to act through the remaining part of my life, so' 
as to be most pleasing to my Creator and tlie most useful to So- 
ciety? Whether are my head and heart so enlightened and in such a 
frame as to attend to and receive the truth, whether it comes from 
a person I dislike or not? Is not the duty we owe the succeeding 
generation equal to that we owe the present; Several Mediums oP 
knowledge are open to all diligent inquirers. The productions of 
the Printing Press, Ijiterary Schools, and the meetings of the peo- 
ple to debate on public mi'asures. The inhabitants of this county 
liave, as hitherto, been peculiarly circumstanced. They became 



396 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

possessors of a Wilderness at a perilous Era: The greatest part of 
their time since has been necessarily employed merely to provide 
subsistence, coarse clothing and cheap dwellings, to defend their 
families from the inclemency of the weather, no time or money to 
spare to build elegant or convenient houses, to erect suitable places 
for public worship, to found Seminaries for classical learning, to 
promote the education of youth, that most indispensable of all obli- 
gations to children. It is also a prior duty to any you owe the state 
to provide food and raiment for your families. Plain fare and 
coarse clothing you might be content with, if it was necessary to 
part with all the siiperfluities to answer the real exigencies of the 
State, and did you see your fellows in more favorable situation pur- 
suing the same course and also could you be persuaded that a judi- 
cious economy pervades all the disbursements of all the public 
money, then, and not till then, ought you to part with the produce 
of your Industry at the call of Eulers. It may be alleged by your 
enemies that you do not mean to contribute anything to alleviate 
the burthens of the jSTation and support Government. This charge 
will vanish on a fair enquiry into the various schemes of finance 
and the present state of the Public Funds. 

The following estimate of Taxes, and what has operated as taxes 
in the Western Country, will prove that you have contributed some- 
thing, probably your full share. 

Treasury and pre-emption warrants, 16,000,000 pounds 

Taxes collected in the years 1778, '79, '80, '81,. 180,000 pounds 
Bills lost, sunk or funded, 5,000,000 pounds 

Paper money, 21,130,000 pounds 

Cash paid commissioners in hard money reduced, $10,000 

Composition money sent in with the plots, 70,000 

One-sixth of the surveyor's fees, 5,000 

Registers' fees prior to 1784, 30,000 

Registers' fees prior to 1784, 3,000 

Registers' fees prior to 1785, 10,000 

Additional tax of 5s. per hundred on land, 25,000 

Duty on salt will cost the western consumption 6s. per 

bushel, 1,500 

Duties on imports on foreign goods and enumerated articles 2,500 
Loyal Company's claim on W. & M. counties, 8,000 



Wnshington County, 1777-1870. 397 

Taxes on &c., may produce annually, 2,000 

Assessment subsequent to 1781, an enormous sum that it 

is impracticable, if not unjust, to collect, 173,000 

Should the Legislature abolish assessment, and the above not be 
sufficient, you miglit endure taxing a few luxurious articles and 
some vices, that would increase the sura, and make it equal to your 
just proportion of ex[)enditures. 

If your eastern neighl)ors were generous, they would make some 
allowance for the great losses sustained by the depredations of the 
Indians, and for the many valuable lives lost to keep them safe. 
The appropriations of your public money ought also to be a subject 
of serious enquiry, for if at any time it should be applied to the 
purposes of venality and corruption, you would then be feeding your 
destroyers, and enable them to make further invasions on your 
remaining rights and liberties, until you would have left nothing 
worth contending for, and you and your posterity would be obliged 
to stoop to an abject vassalage. 

"All is not lost yet, therefore beware in the future of the objec- 
tion of either weak or interested men who would persuade you to 
a passive conduct under all the Measures of Government. Your 
Eulers, as well as those of other nations, are only fallible men. 
When they act well, honor and applaud, when wickedly, impeach 
and punish them. Disregard their impotent threats and ridicu- 
lous fallacies, and let them know that the little selfish cry of an 
individual is not to be heard when the loud sounds of the peo- 
ples' are publishing their wrongs. 

'•'Signed by order, 

"CHAELES CUMMINGS, Ch'm." 

A copy. 

This document is thus endorsed by the Governor: 
"Memo. James ri'Iontgomery put this paper into my hands, and 
can prove its authenticity, and that Arthiir Campbell personally 
explained, enforced and inculcated its contents on the people, par- 
ticularly the State of Taxes p'd by that country." 

Colonel Arthur Campbell and a large majority of the citizens of 
Washington county, from this time forward, made every possible 
effort to secure the approval of the Congress of the United States 
of their view^s in regard to the formation of a new State, and their 



398 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

views seemed to permeate and meet witli tlie apprO'Val of all the 
citizens, with but few exceptions, living on the western waters. 

In the month of Jime, 1784, the General Assembly of North 
Carolina passed an Act ceding to the Congress of the United States 
all her western lands, including the counties of Sullivan, Washing- 
ton, Greene and Davidson, now within the present limits of the 
State of Tennessee, and at the same session of the North Carolina 
Assembly, the Western Land Office was closed. 

Immediately upon the adjournment of the North Carolina 
Assembly, the four delegates from the Avestern counties returned 
to their homes and gave intelligence to the people of the proceed- 
ings of the General Assembly of North Carolina, whereupon, it was 
proposed that the people should elect two representatives in each 
captain's company in the counties of AVashington, Sullivan and 
Greene, as committeemen to deliberate upon the state of public 
affairs and to recommend a plan of action suited to the occasion. 
These committees met and recommended the election of delegates 
from the several counties, to meet in convention at Jonesboro, with 
}>o\\er to adopt such measures as they thought necessary. 

The delegates were elected and assembled at Jonesboro on 
August 23, 1784, and elected the following officers: President, 
John Sevier; Secretary, Landon Carter. 

The convention immediately proceeded to appoint a committee 
to take into consideration the state of public affairs and the ces- 
sion to Congress by North Carolina of her western territory. 

This committee, after a resolution had been offered by a member 
declaring the three western counties independent of North Caro- 
lina, unanimously adopted the following report, which was submit- 
ted to the convention: 

EEPOET. 

"Your committee are of opinion and judge it expedient, that the 
counties of Washington, Sullivan and Greene, which the Cession 
Bill particularly respects, form themselves into an association and 
combine themselves together, in order to support the present laws 
of North Carolina, which may not be incompatible with the modes 
and forms of laying off a new State. It is the opinion of your 
committee that we have a just and undeniable right to petition to 
Congress to accept the cession made by North Carolina, and for 
that body to countenance us in forming ourselves into a separate 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 399 

government,, and either to frame a permanent or temporary con- 
stitution, agreeably to a resolve of Congress in snch case made and 
provided, as nearly as circumstances will permit. We have a right 
to keep and hold a convention from time to time, by meeting and 
convening at such place or places as the said convention shall 
adjourn to. When any contiguous part of Virginia shall make 
application to join this association, after they are legally permitted, 
either by the State of Virginia or other power having cognizance 
thereof, it is our opinion that they be received and enjoy the same 
privilege that we do, or shall enjoy. This convention has a right 
to adopt and prescribe such regulations as the particular exigencies 
of the times and the public good may require; that one or more 
persons ought to be sent to represent our situation in the Congress 
of the United States and this convention has just right and autho- 
rity to prescribe a regular mode for his support." 

This report was received by the convention and adopted, and 
the convention, by a vote of 28 to 15, declared in favor of forming 
a separate and distinct State at this time, and appointed Messrs. 
Hardin and Cocke to draw up articles of association, which they 
did and which articles were approved by the convention. Pursuant 
•to the Articles of Association, the first members of the General 
Assembly of the State of Franklin were chosen, and assembled at 
Jonesboro in the month of March, 1785, at which time officers were 
elected and laws adopted for the government of the State of Frank- 
land. The officers elected were as follows: 

Governor, John Sevier. 

Secretary of State, Landon Carter. 

Treasurer, William Cage. 

Surveyor-General, Stockly Donaldson. 

Brigadier-Generals, Daniel Kennedy and William Cocke. 

Council of State, William Cocke, Landon Carter, Francis A. 
Eamsay, David Campbell, Daniel Kennedy and Colonel Taylor. 

Member of Congress, General William Cocke. 

The government as thus organized, proceeded in an orderly way 
to administer the affairs of the people. 

There can be but little question, that Colonel Arthur Campbell, 
the author of the idea of a new State, played a leading part in the 
organization of the State of Frankland. During the years 1783- 
1784, he was constantly engaged in organizing this new govern- 



400 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

ment and enlisting the sympatliies of the people of Washington and 
Montgomery counties in behalf of the same. He drew up a Decla- 
ration of Eights and a Constitution for the new government, and 
while I am unable to obtain a copy of the Constitution that he 
proposed for the new State, still I am able to give the Declaration 
of Rights prepared by him, which is as follows : 

A DECLAEATION OF EIGHTS. 

1st. That all political power is vested in and derived from the 
people only. 

2nd. That the people of this State ought to have the sole and 
exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police 
thereof. 

3d. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or 
separate emoluments or privileges from the community but in con- 
sideration of public services. 

4th. That the legislative, executive and supreme judicial powers 
of government ought to be forever separate and distinct from each 
other. 

5th. That all powers of suspending laws, or the execution of 
laws, by any authority, without the consent of the representatives 
of the people, are injurious to their right and ought not to be 
exercised. 

6th. That election of members to serve as representatives in 
General Assembly ought to be free. 

?th. That in all criminal prosecutions, every man has a right 
to be informed of the accusation against him and to confront the 
accusers and witnesses with other testimony, and shall not be com- 
pelled to give evidence against himself. 

8tli. That no freeman shall be put to answer any criminal 
charge but by indictment or impeachment. 

9th. That no freeman shall be convicted of any crime but by 
the unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men in open 
court, as heretofore used. 

loili. That excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive 
fines imposed, nor cruel nor unusual pimishments inflicted. 

11th. That general warrants, whereby an officer or a messenger 
may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence 
of the fact committed, or to &em any person or persons not named, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 401 

whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evi- 
dence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be granted. 

12th. That no freeman ought to be taken, imprisoned or dis- 
seized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed or exiled, 
or in any manner destroyed or deprived of his life, liberty or prop- 
erty, but by the law of the land. 

13th. That every freeman restrained of his liberty, is entitled to 
a remedy, to enquire into the lawfulness thereof, and to remove 
the same, if unlawful ; and that such remedy ought not to be denied 
or delayed. 

14th. That in all controversies at law, respecting property, the 
ancienb mode of trial by jury is one of the best securities of the 
rights of the people and ought to remain sacred and inviolable. 

15th. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bul- 
warks of liberty, and therefore ought never to be restrained. 

16th. That the people of this State ought not to be taxed, or 
made subject to payment of any impost or duty, without the con- 
sent of themselves or their representatives in General Assembly 
freely given. 

17t]i. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence 
of the State ; and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous 
to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military 
should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the 
civil power. 

18th. That the people have a right to assembly together, to 
consult for their common good, to instruct their representatives, 
and to apply to the Legislature for redress of grievances. 

19th, That all men have a natural and unalienable right to 
worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own con- 
sciences. 

20th. That for redress of grievances and for amending and 
strengthening the laws, elections ought to be often held. 

21st. That a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles k 
absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty. 

22d. That no hereditary emoluments, privileges or honors 
ought to be granted or conferred in this State. 

23d. That perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the 
genius of a free State and ought not to be allowed. 

24th. That retrospective laws punishing acts committed before 



402 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-17S6. 

the existence of such laws, and by them only declared criminal, are 
oppressive, imjiist and incompatible with liberty; therefore no ex 
post facto law ought to be made." 

James Montgomery, when he accepted the commission of the 
Governor as sheriff of Washington county and gave security for the 
collection of the taxes due for the three preceding years, incurred 
the displeasure of Colonel Campbell and the majority of the citi- 
zens of the county, and, in turn, he became the bitter enemy of 
Colonel Campbell. 

The people had been advised and expected that they would be 
released from the payment of their taxes for the preceding years, 
upon the organization of the new State, which they confidently 
believed would take place. Early in the year 1785, James Mont- 
gomery, William Edmiston, Arthur Bowen, James Kincannon, 
Samuel Edmiston and James Thompson addressed the following 
communication to the Governor of Virginia, preferring charges 
of malpractices and misconduct, in his office, as justice of the 
peace, against Arthur Campbell. 

"Sir: — Viewing with concern the present situation of affairs in 
this country, through attempts of ambitious men, thereby intend- 
ing to incense the good people thereof against the laws of the State 
and proceedings of government requisite thereto, finally to effect a 
new State in this quarter of the country, we cannot any longer 
remain tacit beholders of the evils already generating among us, 
without the most alarmed sensations, which we think the ties of 
humanity and obligations to oiir country lead us to disclose. 

Most secret plans have been laid to delude the people, holding out 
to them the idea of oppressive acts imposed by the General Assem- 
bly, intended to burthen them unjustly with a weight of taxes. 
Small committees were contrived and convened by Colonel Arthur 
Campbell, the leader of this disorder, as early as February and 
March last, under pretext of seeking redress of grievances in behalf 
of the county the present year, and decrying the laws in general of 
the last Assembly. ISTotwithstanding every opposition made to his 
measures, he continued to convene his committees, and, not long 
after, in one of his committees at Major Dysart's disclosed his plan 
of representation to Congress-, thereby aiming to fix a boundary to 
include a part of Virginia in the Prankland State. 

It is also notoriously known that Colonel Campbell did, in a con- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 403 

ventiou of tlie ISTortli Carolina people, publicly propose to separate 
himself with the citizens of Washington and Montgomery in Vir- 
ginia, and joining them declare themselves immediately independ- 
ent of tlie States of Virginia and NoTth Carolina, and moreover, 
stand in the front of the battle between these people and Virginia 
when necessary. His declaration to the people of this county at the 
March court, to elect no delegates to the G-eneral Assembly this 
year, together with his late opposition, at the July court, to the 
proclamation issued by your Excellency in Council the 10th of 
June last, may be sutBcient to satisfy your Excellency and Hon- 
orable Council that the mischievous spirit prevailing here in oppo- 
sition to the present collection and other proceedings of govern- 
ment, may have arisen from the licentious spirit of Colonel Camp- 
bell, conveyed to them through his artful insinuations daily since 
last court, exercised by public meetings in this county, intended to 
overset the designs of the Executive in the present al'rangemeut of 
the militia; and there is reason to believe he is now aiming to 
effect associations to oppose the collection when attempted to be 
made. The charges herein contained can undoubtedly be supported 
by General Eussell, Captain Andrew Kincannon, Captain Henry 
Smith and Captain William Cocke, of the Prankland settlement. 
We rest the charges herein contained for the discussion and ulti- 
mate decision of your Excellency and the Honorable Council, that 
if necessary he may be cited to answer the charges against him." 

When the attention of Governor Henry was called to the situation 
of affairs in this county, he removed the suspension of the opera- 
tion of the militia law adopted by the Assembly at its session in 
the year 1784, and removed from office Colonel Arthur Campbell, 
the county lieutenant of this county, and such of the field officers, 
in the militia of this county, as were active partizans of the new 
State. Colonel William Eussell was commissioned a brigadier- 
general of militia with a full quota of officers who were opposed to 
the formation of the new State. By this act, the Governor remO'Ved 
from office many of the men who had served at King's mountain, 
and such was the dissatisfaction produced by this action, that a 
number of the leading citizens of the county who had not taken 
part in the previous disturbances, addressed the following petition 
to the Governor and Council of the State : 



404 • Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

To His Excellency, Patrick Henr}^, Esquire, Governor of the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia, and the Honorable Conncii of State : 
The petition of simdiy freemen whose names are thereunto sii!>- 
scribed humbly sheweth, that being pleased with the name and 
wishing to glory in the reality of being citizens of a Commonwealth, 
it is with infinite concern that we are constrained to address your 
Excellency on a subject that we apprehend will eventually endanger 
our liberties — we mean the adoption of the new militia law. 
That we believe the Constitution is imperfect in some particulars; 
but whilst we retain it as an acknowledged plan, springing from a 
higher source than the ordinary Legislature, we ought to consider 
it, until altered by the same authorities, as the basis of the laws and 
all legitimate government, and besides our allegiance points out 
to us as a duty, to maintain it inviolate, that former examples both 
ancient and modern, our own experience and the reason of things 
tell us that if an infraction is once made, and that by a delegated 
power, then there will be no right, however sacred, that is possessed 
by the citizens, but ma}^ be usurped, and our government ere long 
terminate in anarchy or despotism, those mournful calamities that 
too soon befall the human race. 

To avert such direful events, to recur to first principles and to 
reinstate our liberties in theij pristine vigor, we are encouraged to 
approach, with freedom and truth, a patriotic Chief Magistrate, 
and an enlightened Council, humbly praying that the powers with 
which your Honorable Board are invested may be now exercised by 
refusing to execute the aforesaid Act as being unconstitutional and 
oppressive; or, if need be, assemble the Legislature, at an earlier 
period than it stands adjourned to, that we may have an opportu- 
nity to seek redress from a legal tribunal. And your petitioners 
shall pray: 

Andrew Willoughby, Jr., James Logan, 

James , Robert Montgomery, 

James Craig, Joseph Acklin, 

Charles Cummings, George Finley, 

Fra. Allison, Robert Campbel], 

Thomas Cummings, ' Samuel Acklin, 

John Trousdale, Samuel Houston, 

James Dun! op, John Preston, 

John Campbell, James Cummings, 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 405 

John Davis, David Kinkead, 

James Moore, Andrew Davison, 

Gilbert Watson, Thomas Osburn, 

John Christian, Robert Johnston, 

Robert Craig, Nath. Willonghby, 

Michael Higgins, David Watson, 

Samuel Davis, William Bradley, 

John Cummings, William Craig and otliers. 

The Governor being slow to act upon the cliarges preferred by 
James Montgomery and others against Colonel Arthur Campbell, 
in the summer of the year 1785, William Edmiston, James Kin- 
cannon, Samnel Edmiston, James Thompson and Arthur Bowen 
addressed the following letter to the Governor of Virginia, prefer- 
ring additional charges against Colonel Campbell: 
"Please Your Excellency and the Honorable Council : 

"Sir, — A complaint being exhibited during the course of last 
summer against Colonel Arthur Campbell for mal-conduct, con- 
trary to the most sacred ties of government, as well under his late 
county lieutenancy as judge of the court of Washington, in which 
he continues to act, we have consequently thereto, been honored by 
advice from our Tjieutenant-Governor, that the charges would be 
attended to by the Executive wliich we still hope will meet your 
patronage in due season and the offender in your wisdom cited 
before a proper tribunal to ans^^-er the charges against him. Rely- 
ing that the Executive will not suffer such atrocious insult to the 
Commonwealth of Virginia to pass unnoticed, we think it neces- 
sary to add fresh matter of complaint against Colonel Campbell 
that with the former now in your ])ossession, his wicked and per- 
severing conduct may be more clearly explained to your Honorable 
Board. When the decision of the Executive made it necessary to 
arrange the militia of WasJiington county under the law of eighty- 
four, and the Governor's proclamation was issued for that purpose, 
which being accompanied with the field officers' commissions were 
laid before Washington court, Colonel Campbell on the bench 
objected to the proclamation and power of the Executive, under 
the law, and quitting the bench addressed himself to the court, tell- 
ing them that the militia law was arbitrar}^, tyrannical and oppres- 
sive; and after condemning the last Assembly for enacting the law, 
said that the power of enforcing the law was in the court, not in 



406 Southtvest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

the Executive, and that the court should by no means suffer the 
field officers to qualify ; he also hoped that the court and people of 
the county would pay no obedience to the law or proclamation. 
Colonel Campbell finding some opposition to his measures by the 
court, alleged that the Executive having suspended the operations 
of the law till January, 1786, he had not a right to t<qke off that 
suspension, by which time, he made no doubt, the law would be 
repealed; and after finding some of the court opposed to his pro- 
positions, plead, (notwithstanding the danger of the frontiers) 
that the court sliould not suffer the field officers to qualify at that 
time. His constant endeavors to prejudice the citizens of this 
county ever since against the law, will appear from a petition to 
the Assembly which he promoted." 

And at the same time James Montgomery, who was a member 
of the Legislature from Washington county, preferred the follow- 
ing charges against Colouel Campbell : 

"1st. That he advised persons chargeable with public taxes to 
refuse payment thereof. 

2d. That he advised freeholders against electing members to the 
General Assembly. 

3d. That he attempted by various means, openly and secretly, to 
induce the inhabitants of Washington county to separate from this 
Commonwealth. 

4th. That he left the bench on a day when the court was sitting 
and attempted to persuade the court that no regard ought to be 
paid to the militia law, or the Governor's proclamation for enforc- 
ing it." 

The Governor and Council, upon consideration of said charges, 
directed that the first Monday in April, 1786, be set apart for 
enquiring iuto^ the charges aforesaid, at the Council chamber in 
the city of Eichmond, and that the said Arthur Campbell have 
notice of such intended inquiry and be furnished with a copy of the 
charges exliibitod against him on or before the first day of February 
next, and that the parties be at liberty from that period to the 15th 
day of March next, to take depositions of witnesses, respecting the 
charges aforesaid, giving ten days' previous notice of the time and 
place of taking the same, and that when taken they be transmitted 
to His Excellency the Governor, under the hand and seal of the 



Washington County, 1177-1810. 407 

magistrate or magistrates who attended the taking of sucli deposi- 
tions. 

In answer to Governor Heniy's proclamation enforcing the mili- 
tia law, Colonel Arthur Campbell, who had been particnlarh' named 
therein, addressed the following letter to the Governor : 

"Sir, — x\fter having been honored lately with the receipt oi sev- 
eral of your Excellency's letters, particularly that of the 17th of 
May last, and the several communications made in consequence of 
them, particularly my letter of the 13th of June, the principal offi- 
cers and the Whig interest in this county seemed to rest satisfied 
that an amicable and enlightened administration would pave tlie 
way to the Legislature and to Congress for the efficient and per- 
manent redress of the principal, and in some cases the almost 
intolerable grievances of the western inliabitants. Brrt 'W'lluile 
secure in this confidence, we have to lament that the voice of 
calumny and faction has reached the seat of supreme rule, and 
that, without a constitutional enquiry, without a fair hearing, it 
has been in some degree listened to, and had effect. It is hard to 
defend when it is not known what we are charged with, and at 
all times who can disarm private pique, or be able to withstand 
malice and envy without feeling some smart. But political fury, 
engendered by Tory principles, knows no bounds and is without 
a parallel. Bernard and Hutchison have exhibited to Governors 
and the world, examples that ought to teach wisdom to this and 
succeeding generations. We are told (but it is only from report) 
that we have offended government on account of our sentiments 
being favorable to a new State, and our looking forward for a sep- 
aration. If such a disposition is criminal, I confess there are not 
a few in this county to whom guilt may be imputed, and to many 
respectable characters in other counties on the western waters. If 
we wish for a separation it is on account of grievances that daily 
become more and more intolerable, it is from a hope that another 
mode of governing will make us more useful than we are now to the 
general confederacy, or ever can be whilst so connected. But why 
can blame fall on us, when our aim is to conduct measures in an 
orderly manner, and strictly consistent with the Constitution. 
Surely men who have bound themselves by every holy tie to sup- 
port republican principles, cannot on a dispassionate consideration 
blame us. Our want of experience and knowledge may be a plea 



408 Soutliivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

against lis. AVe deplore our situation and circumstances on that 
account, bnt at the same time iinniy believe that our advances to 
knowledge will still continue slow, perhaps verge towards ignorance 
and barbarism, without the benefit of local independent institutions. 

But, sir, wliy may we not take courage and say we are right when 
adverting to our o^^^l constitution, to the different Acts of Con- 
gress, that of different legislatures, the opinion of the first states- 
men in America, among whom we can number an illustrious com- 
mander, a great lawyer and judge in this State, and a Governor of 
Virginia himself? 

All that I have to ask, and it is all that I may ever crave, is 
that your Excellency may not, from invidious information, form 
such rash measures, so urge matters, at an untimely day to extremi- 
ties, which only might gratify an angry individual, but would, by 
no means, promote the interest and peace of the Commonwealth, 
or its honor and dignity. 

I am, sir, with respect, your most obedient servant, 

AETHUE CAMPBELL. 

The agitation continued uutii the meeting of the General Assem- 
bly of Yirginia. on Oetoljer, 1785, at which time, the Governor 
ti-ansmitted to the General iVssembly a message in regard to the 
action taken by the people of this portion of Virginia, praying t]ie 
establishment of an independent tState. 

Accompauying the message was the memorial adopted by the 
Assembly that met at Abingdon, addressed to the Congress of the 
United States as heretofore given. The message of the Governor 
to the General Assembly was as follows : 

MESSAGE OP GOVEENOE PATEICK HENEY. 
"I transmit herewith a letter from the Honorable ]\Ir. Hardy, 
covering a meuiorial to Congress of sundry inhabitants of Washing- 
ton county, praying the establishment of an independent State, to 
be bounded as is therein expressed. The proposed limits include 
a vast extent of country, in whicli we have numerous and very 
respectable settlements, which in their growth will form an inval- 
uable barrier between this country and those, who, in the course 
of events, may occupy the vast places westward of the mountains, 
some of whom have views incompatible with our safety. Already 
the militia of that part of the State is the most respectable we have, 
and by their means it is that the neighboring Indians are awed 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 409 

into professions of friendship. But a circumstance has lately hap- 
pened, which renders the possession of the territory at the present 
time indispensable to the peace and safety of Virginia ; I mean the 
assumption of sovereign power by the western inhabitants of North 
Carolina. If the people who, without consulting their own safety 
or any other aiithority known in the American Constitution, have 
assumed government, and while nnallied to ns and imder no 
engagements to pursue the objects of the Federal government, shall 
be strengthened by the accession of so great a part of our country, 
consequences fatal to our repose will probably follow. It is to be 
observed that the settlements of this new society stretch into a 
great extent in contact with ours in Washington county, and there- 
by expose our citizens to the contagion of tlie example which bids 
fair to destroy the peace 'of North Carolina. In this state ol things 
it is that variety of information has come to me stating that several 
persons, but especially Colonel Arthur Campbell, have used their 
utmost endeavors, and with some success, to persuade the citizens 
in that quarter to break off from this Commonwealth, and attach 
themselves to the ne^vly-assumed government, or to erect one dis- 
tinct from it. And to effect this purpose the equality and authority 
of the laws have been arraigned, the collection of the taxes impeded, 
and our national character impeached. If this most important part 
of our territory be lopped off, we loose that barrier for Avhich our 
people have long and often fought; that nursery of soldiers, from 
which future armies may be levied, and through which it will be 
almost impossible for our enemies to penetrate. We shall aggran- 
dize the new State, whose connections, views and designs, we know 
not: shall cease to be formidable to our savage neighbors, or respect- 
able to our western settlements, at present or in the future. 

Whilst these and many other matters were contemplated by the 
Executive, it is natural to suppose, the attempt at separation was 
discouraged by every lawful means, the chief of which was dis- 
placing such ol the field officers of the militia in Washington 
county as were active partizans for separation, in order to prevent 
the weight of oflfice being put in the scale against Virginia. To 
this end a proclamation was issued, declaring the militia laws of 
the last session in force in that county, and appointments were 
iiiade agreeable to it. 

I hope to be excused foT expressing a wish that the Assembly, in 



410 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

deliberating on this affair, will prefer lenient measures in order 
to restrain onr erring citizens. Their taxes have run into three 
years and thereby gro\m to an amount beyond the ability of many 
to discharge; while the system of our trade has been such, as to 
render their agriculture unproductive of money. And I cannot but 
suppose that if even the warmest supporters of separation had seen 
the mischievous consequences, they would have retraced and recon- 
sidered that intemperance in their own proceedings, which oppo- 
sition in sentiment is too apt to produce. 

The limits proposed for the new government of Frankland, by 
Colonel Arthur Campbell and the people of Virginia who aimed at 
a separation from this State, were expressed in the form of a con- 
stitution which Colonel Campbell drew up for public examination, 
and wore these : Beginning at a point on the top of the Alleghany 
or Appalachian mountains, so as that a line drawn due north from 
thence will touch the bank of the New river, otherwise called 
Kenawha, at the confluence of Little river, which is about one 
mile above Inglis' ferry, down the said river Kenawha to the 
mouth of the Eoncevort, or Greenbrier river, a direct line thence to 
the summit of Laurel mountain, and along the highest part of the 
'jr.me to the same point where it is intersected by the parallel of 
37° north latitude; west along that latitude to a point where it is 
met by a meridian line that passes through the lower part of the 
river Ohio ; south along the meridian to the Elk river, a branch of 
the Tennessee; down said river to its mouth, and down the Ten- 
nessee to the most southwardly part or bend of said river; a direct 
line from thence to that branch of the Mobile, called Tombigbee ; 
down said river Tombigbee to its junction with the Coosawattee 
river, to the mouth of that branch of it called the Hightower; 
thence south to the top of the Appalachian mountain, or the highest 
land that divided the sources of the eastern from the western wat- 
ers; northwardly along the middle of said heights, and the top of 
the Appalachian mountain, to the beginning. It was stated 
that the inhabitants within these limits agree with each other 
to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent 
body politic or State, by the name of the Commonwealtli 
of Frankland. The laws of the Legislature were to be enacted by 
the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Frankland ; and all 
the laws and ordinances which had been before adopted, used and 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 411 

approved in the dilTcrciit parts of this State, whilst under the juris- 
diction of Virginia and North Carolina shall still remain the rule 
of decision in all cases for the respective limits for which they were 
formerly adopted, and shall continue in full force until altered 
or repealed by the Legislature; such parts onl}^ excepted, as are 
repugnant to the rights and liberties contained in this Constitution, 
or those of the said respective States." 

As heretofore stated, early in the year 1785 the Governor 
removed Colonel Arthur Campbell, county lieutenant of Washing- 
ton county and all the militia officers who advocated a new State, 
and commissioned General Eussell as brigadier-general of militia 
and a number of other gentlemen who were opposed to the forma- 
tion of a new State, as militia oflicers in "Washington county; but 
when Colonel Eussell and the other gentlemen holding commis- 
sions under the Governor appeared before the court and offered to 
qualify as required by law. Colonel Campbell, who was the pre- 
siding officer of the court, demanded of Colonel Russell and his 
friends to know by what authority they sought to qualify, when 
the commissions were produced, and Colonel Campbell, having 
read the commissions, left the bench and declared that he would 
not tamely submit to the orders of the Governor, and immediately 
proceeded to address the court, declaring the militia law to be in 
the highest degree oppressive and tyrannical, and that the Gover- 
nor, having suspended the law until January, 17SG, had no right 
to enforce it at this time. He pronounced the Governor's proclama- 
tion illegal, declaring the Governor and Council had exceeded their 
]iowor, and that thoy bad no right to enforce the militia law at 
that time, qnd he assured the court that the power to enfoi'ce law 
was in them and not in the Executive; and, notwithstanding the 
earnest protest of Colonel Russell, the court declined to permit 
the Governor's a])pointees to qualify. 

The General Assembly convened on the -Id day of Octolier, 1785. 
and the first act passed by the Assembly was to amend the militin 
law enacted at the session in 1784, and to provide that the officers 
of the militia, who were displaced and removed from office by vii'- 
tue of said act, are hereby reinstated and shall take precedency of 
rank agreeably to dates of the commissions they severally held prior 
to the passage of said Act. 

And this same Assembly passed several Acts having for their 



413 Southwest Virginia, 171,6-1786. 

object the removal of the gi'ievances complained of b}^ Colonel 
Campbell and his followers in Washington county. 

By the Act of the Assembly above given. Colonel Campbell, once 
again, prevailed against his enemies and continued to discharge 
the duties of county lieutenant of Washington county for many 
years. 

The measures adopted by the Legislature were exceedingly mod- 
erate and conciliatory, and, as a result, all active opposition to the 
authority of the Virginia government ceased. 

Tlie idea of forming a new government out of the Avestern terri- 
tory originated with Colonel Arthur Campbell and was adopted by 
the citizens of JSTorth Carolina at his suggestion. He was com- 
pelled to submit to the autliority of the State of Virginia some 
time previous to the dissolution of the State of Frankland in 
North Carolina, because of the circumstances surrounding the two 
peoples. Colonel Campbell and his Virginia followers lived in 
that portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia which the State 
had never agreed to cede to the Continental Congress, and the sov- 
ereignty of which the Commonwealth, at no time, was willing 
to surrender to any other power, while the situation in North 
Carolina was entirely different. The General Assembly of that 
State had ceded all that portion of her territory embraced in the 
State of Frankland to the Congress of the United States, and tlie 
citizens of North Carolina felt but little interest in the matter, and 
as a result of this condition the Virginia seceders w^ere promptly 
suppressed, while those in North Carolina were for some time per- 
uiitted to pursue the even tenor of their way. 

'I'lie prosecution of Colonel Campbell continued witli unabated 
vigor, and numerous depositions were taken to sustain the charges 
made against him. The deposition of Colonel William Eussell, 
the chief prosecutor in the case, was as follows : 

"Ceneral William Eussell, deposeth and saith : On the 12th 
day of January, 1785, at the house of William Colly in Wash- 
ington coimty, your deponent attended a meeting of a number of 
inhabitants of said county. The people assembled. Colonel Camp- 
bell addressed them, saying he had called them together to explain 
to them the enormous sum of money paid by the people of this 
county to the State of Virginia, which he said repeatedly amounted 
to nearly two million more than was due from this county to the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 413 

government. He said he was exceedingl}'- alarmed to find that taxes 
were to be demanded of the people of Washington that year, then 
reduced to absolute certainty, the sherifi' having given security for 
the collection. Your deponent well remembers Colonel Campbell 
told the people that sum of money operated upon them as a tax, 
and that the people ought to pay no tax till that sum was accounted 
for by the government to the people here. Your deponent then told 
the people that Colonel Campbell's deductions were drawn from 
erroneous calculations by the lump, intended to mislead and incense 
them against government. Your deponent then urged the people 
to pay half the tax then called for, and further told the people their 
compliance with that in future might perhaps favor tliem to pro- 
cure an abatement, if not a final remittance, of the arrears by our 
Asseiubly. Colonel Campbell immediately replied, truly the gen- 
tleman preaches up to yon passive obedience and non-resistance. 
Your deponent then informed the people the sheriff would take 
beef cattle for the collection, to make it easy for those who could 
not raise money to pay their tax. Colonel Campbell instantly 
replied, he liked such men who would take up arms rather than 
submit to so unjust a tax. Colonel Campbell then proposed that 
all for his measure should choose a committee, and with these 
retired aside. Your deponent attended a meeting at Major Dysart's 
on tlie 14th of the same instant, when Colonel Campbell addressed 
the people then present with the same explanation of statements he 
]iad offered on the 12th at William Colly's, urging that the people 
of this county had paid two millions money more than their just 
quota, and alleged it was imjust for us to pay tax till that was 
aeeoujited for. Your deponent attended one other meeting at Sink- 
ing Spring Meeting House, on the 15th of the same instant, being 
Washington February court day, and your deponent supposetli 
nearly three hundred people were present at said meeting. Colonel 
Campbell addressed them as before in opposition to the collection of 
the taxes, and again alleged this county had paid nearly two mil- 
lions over and above what ought to be paid to government, and 
recommended the people ought to pay no tax until tliat was settled 
by the State. Colonel Campbell said he was surpi'ised to find in 
what manner measures had been taken to precipitate the collection 
by the sheriff and his sureties. Colonel Campbell observed, we had 
but lately escaped from British tyranny and he feared it was likely 



414 Southwest Virginia, 171^0-1786. 

to take place in our own State. He exclaimed generally against the 
laws passed by the General Assembly in 1784, as tyrannical and 
oppressive. Your deponent once more observed to the people that 
Colonel Campbell's inferences led them to secede from government ; 
that his insinuations and refusal to pay taxes led to rebellion, in 
which predicament, if led by him, we must either subjugate Vir- 
ginia, or Virginia would reduce us. 

At July Washington court, 1785, the G-overnor's proclamati<m 
being read near the courthouse door, by the sheriff intended to 
enforce the militia law of 1784, your deponent and field officers, as 
by a late appointment by the Governor, went before the court, and 
applied to be qualified to their commissions. Colonel Campbell, 
then on the bench and judge of the court, he enquired to know what 
cO'mmission, of which your deponent informed him, and handed 
him the Governor's proclamation; he having read it, or part of it, 
took his hat, and leaving the bench, declared he would not tamely 
submit to it so. 

Colonel Campbell then addressed the court, and said thai ihe 
Governor and Council had exceeded their power. He told the court 
the Governor's proclamation was not law. Your deponent observed 
to the court it was a power sufficient to enforce a laAV. Colonel 
Campbell then observed the militia law Avas in the highest degree 
oppressive and tyrannical, and the Executive having suspended the 
law till January, 178G, had no right to enforce it at that time, and 
he assured the court the power to inforce that law or not, was in 
them, and not in the Executive. 

It appeared to your deponent, that Colonel iVrthur Campbell, 
supposing that he Avould be overruled by the court in his proposi- 
tion, then proposed to the court to postpone the qualification of the 
officers till the August court. Your deponent then observed to 
the court the risk of the frontier would not admit of that delay, 
as depredations had been committed not long before on our fron- 
tiers by the savages. 

Colonel Campbell then re])lied that was not of much consequence, 
and further your deponent saith not. 

. Depositions pro and con Avere taken in tliis case, at the toAvn 
house, on March 6, 1780, at the house of Captain Thomas Price on 
Clinch, on the lOtli day of March, and at Henry Herkleroads, on 
the 14th of said month. The folloAvine witnesses Avere examined 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 415 

against Colonel Campbell : Joseph Cole, Andrew Kiucannon, 
Thomas Berry, James Thompson, Charles Bowen, Arthur Bowen, 
"William Crabtree, Andrew Cowan, George Clark, James Kincan- 
non and Bobert Preston. And the following witnesses were sworn 
in behalf of Colonel Campbell : John Jjatham, Benjamin Sharp, 
James Dysart, Elislia Dimgan, George Finley, Alex. Breckinridge, 
James Snodgrass, John Kinkead, Joseph Black and Eobert Craig. 

These depositions were taken before David Ward, Andrew Cowan, 
John Latham, John Kinkead, John Lowry, James Fulkerson and 
Joseph Black. 

The principal deposition given in behalf of Colonel Arthur Camp- 
bell, and the one that best illustrates his defence, Avas that of Cap- 
tain Robert Craig, which is as follows : 

"And the deponent further saith; that at July court, 1785, he 
was sent for to come into court, and when he cam© in saw Arthur 
Campbell standing on the floor, and after the said deponent, taking 
his seat on the bench. Colonel Eussell, produced to the bench a 
commission which he was desirous of swearing in. Colonel Camp- 
bell wished the bench to consider the matter maturely first. Col- 
onel Eussell told the court they could not get over swearing the 
officers into this commission, as there was the Governor's procla- 
mation enforcing the new militia law in this county. A member 
of the court was desirous of seeing the proclamation, upon which 
it was handed to the court, when Arthur Campbell raised some 
objections against it as it was an unusual manner in which it came; 
but however, Colonel Eussell still insisted to swear into the commis- 
sions, urging that there was a necessity for swearing into them, 
as the frontier was in danger of being harassed by Indians. Arthur 
Campbell made answer that every necessary measure had been 
taken for tlie defence of the frontier, and said that the officers 
which had acted would not neglect doing every duty for the fron- 
tiers in their power until the August court, which was the longest 
time he wanted. That the then officers which were to swear into 
their commissions should not be opposed, if nothing was done by 
the Executive faA'orable to the old officers, for he was certain, he 
said, that there had l)een some misrepresentation sent to the 
Executive, or they never would have thrown out officers who had 
never been called to an account for any misconduct. He likewise 
further said that he would leave it to the choice of the people which 



416 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

could be known against the August court, and if the new militia 
laAV was the choice of a majority of the people, he would be heartily 
agreed, and could shoulder his musket as well as any of them; ami 
then the said Arthur Campbell retired out of the house, and he docs 
not remember of his returning into the house that day. He con- 
sidered Arthur Campbell as acting as a private citizen merely in 
his course, and had never known of his having l)oou guilty of mis- 
conduct as a justice of the peace, (Src, &c. 

"The deponent being interrogntccl, wliat inPormatinn dames 
Montgomery gave, one of tlie days of tlie last court, respecting his 
reasons and motives for accusing Arlliur Campbell for mali)ra('- 
tices in his office as Justice of tlio Foaco; Answers, on ^\'(>(ln('sday 
the Snd day of the court in comorsation \\'ith James MontgonuM-y, 
said Montgomery often urged that he bad been ill used by Ar- 
thur Campbell, and particularly for that judgment which was 
obtained against him for holding a false Election in ITS."), and for 
not getting justice in recommendations. As a Militia Officer, the 
said Deponent observed, that no judgment was yet obtained against 
him in Court, but ho still insisted there was, and he blamed no 
other man but Arthur Cam])ben for it. And s'd Deponent asked 
said Montgomery why he and Artluii' Campbell had so many dis- 
putes, as they were ■once good friends, and why they might not 
cordially drop these disputes and commence good friends again : 
said Montgomery answered that he had been willing to be good 
friends with him, Imt it was too late now, and if it had not l)een 
purely out of ambition and revenge he would never have raised a 
charge against Colonel Campbell. 

"And being further interrogated, if what he hoard bini say 
in his opinion, was in a dispute, depending before this Court or 
relative to the charges now pending liefore the Executive? The 
said Deponent answered that he understood it to be that which 
lay before th.e l^^xecutive. Ee'ing fuitlicr i niter rogaited, if he 
ihought James Montgomery was in bis )u'()i)er senses, or if ho 
thinks he was disguised with li(|uoi' at the time they had this Con- 
versation ; the deponent answei'S that he drank a share of a cpiart 
bowl of whiskey grog, and seemed as if he had been di'inking freely 
before, but the said deponent cannot say he was drunk, altlnnigh 
he expressed himself very noisy, but as sensible as usual. 

"The first depositions taken in this case were suppressed by the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 417 

Grovernor and Council. The order ol the Council suppressing 
these depositions was as follows: 

"Arthur Campbell, appearing in person and being attended by 
James Tnnes and Archibald Stuart, Esquires, his counsel, the 
Board resumed the consideration of the charges exhibited against 
him as a Justice of the Peace for the county of Washington, and, 
the charges being read, the said Arthur Campbell by his Coun- 
sel, objected to the jurisdiction of the Board to proceed to the en- 
quiry, under the Act entitled 'An Act to extend the j)owers of the 
Governor and Council,' as being repugnant to the eighth article 
of the declaration of rights, and the principles of the Constitu- 
tion, which objection being overruled by the Board, the Counsel 
for the said Campbell proceeded to object to the nature and pro- 
]iriety of the testimony by Depositions, alleging the witnesses 
should personally appear and be examined 'viva voce,' and that 
the depositions were taken in a partial manner, declaring at the 
same time that their client meant not to shrink from the charges 
being enquired into, if impartial persons should be appointed to 
take depossitions respecting the charges, and transmit them to the 
I)oard. 

"Whereupon, the Board delivered their opinion, that as the 
certificate of the judges annexed to the depositions did not state 
the place as well as the time whei-e the depositions were taken, in 
conformity to the notice given, they were not sufficient evidence. 
It was therefore ordered by the consent of the said Campbell and 
Alexander Montgomery, attending on the part of the accusers, that 
depositions respecting the charges aforesaid, as well on the part of 
the Commonwealth as the said Arthur Campbell be taken by either 
party at the Court House of said Washington County, between 
the first and last of next month, giving ten days' notice of the time 
and place of taking them, and that David Ward, Andrew Cowan, 
John Latham, John Kinkead, John Lowry, James Fulkerson and 
Joseph Black, Gentlemen, or any three of them being the commis- 
sioners chosen by the parties, attend the taking of the depositions 
of such witnesses as shall be produced, and that the commission- 
ers transmit the depositions so taken, under their hand and seal, 
to the Governor on or before the second Tuesday in June next, 
at which time the parties are to be heard in the Conncil Chamber 
touching the charges aforesaid.'' 



41g Southwest Virginia, l^ItG-llSe. 

Tliese depositions were retaken pursuant to the above order of 
the Council and returned to the Governor of Virginia, whereupon 
Colonel Campbell addressed iho fnllowing memorial to the Gov- 
ernor and Couucil : 

To His Excellency , the Governor of Virginia, and tJie Honorable 
the Council of State: 

THE MEMORIAL OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL. 

"Slieweth : that conscious of the purity of his intentions and 
the inoffeusiveness of his transactions in 1785, he, last April, 
waived his undoubted privilege of viva voce testimony being pro- 
duced against him before your Honorable Board. That he should 
not have waived such a benefit had it not been for the apparent 
sense of the Board in April last, and in confidence that the same 
rule for admitting evidence would be adopted before the commis- 
sioners appointed to take depositions, as are alwa}"S adhered to in 
the Courts of Law, that such rules have been disregarded and such 
persons admitted to swear, who are parties in the dispute, and 
others interested and not credible witnesses — That as all your 
Memorialist's conversation complained of happened at public 
places, where were a large number of the inhabitants generally as- 
sembled, several of whom must have heard what words were spoken, 
as well as Colonel Russell, or any of the avowed complainants. 
That he has no objection, and it was really his desire to have a 
number of the most credible, disinterested persons in the county 
to say on their oath what they knew of the charges brought against 
your memorialist. However, he believes there are a sufficient num- 
ber of such persons already qualified to make the truth appear to 
your Honorable Board, without being obliged to resort to the tes- 
timony indirectly obtained, and coming from such persons under 
the influence of such passions as always vitiate testimony in 
the Courts of Law. Your Memorialist therefore prays, that none 
of the depositions taken before the Commissioners, in Washington 
County, dated the third, fourth, and fifth days of this instant, may 
be admitted against him, because, however secure he may now con- 
clude himself from the attack of malice, yet the precedent would 
be a dangerous one, and might one day return on the heads of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 419 

those wliO' are now so passionately anxious for the destruction of 
one who has really done the public no wrong. 
"And your Memorialist will ever Pray, &c., &c., 

"AETHUE CAMPBELL." 

xA.s far as I can ascertain, the Governor and Council sustained 
the charges against Colonel Campbell and removed him from the 
office of justice of the county court in August, 1786, but he was 
almost immediately reinstated upon the request of the court of 
this county. 

While Colonel Campbell's conduct in this matter may have been 
indiscreet and imprudent, there can be no question that he voiced 
the sentiments of a great majority of the citizens living in Wash- 
ington county. 

At the next election for members of the House of Delegates from 
Washington county, held in the spring of the year 1787, he, along 
with Eobert Craig, was overwhelmingly elected from this county, 
and Colonel Campbell for many years thereafter, retained the con- 
fidence of the people of tliis county and the State officials at Eich- 
niond. 



I 



420 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

CHAPTEE IX. 

WASPIINGTOiSr COUNTY, 1787-1840. 

On the 8th da,y of ]\Iarch, 1787, a small party of Indians came to 
the settlement in Castle's Woods, where they killed a woman and 
two children, and made their escape in snch a manner that they 
conld not be pursued. 

A short while previous to this tiiuc the Indians had visited Lin- 
coln county, Kentucky, and stolen a number of Iwrses, and com- 
mitted other depredations on tlie jx'ople, whereupon a company of 
militia, being about 100 in nuiiil)pr, set out from Lincoln county, 
under the command of Colonel John Logan, to attack and destroy 
a small town inhabited by the Cherokees, on the north side of the 
Tennessee and below the Cumberland mountain, who were blamed 
for the depredations on the Kentucky Path and in the Kentucky 
country. 

This company, after a few days, came on a fresh trace of In- 
dians, which they followed across Cumberland Gap, and they fell 
in with a company of Indians and killed seven, a chief and six 
warriors, and wounded several others, one of the Kentucky militia 
being killed and another wounded. This company of Indians 
proved to be from the friendly town of Chote. 

On the 9th day of July, 1787, a party of Indians came to the 
house of John Carter, on the Clinch, and killed his wife and six 
children, and, after plundering the house, placed^ the dead bodies 
in the same and burned the whole. About the same time a family 
of thirteen or fourteen were murdered by the Indians on the 
Clinch. 

During the spring of this year the Indians killed five persons on 
tlie head waters of the Clinch, two men and three women, and every 
indication pointed to war. 

The Spanish Government and the American people were, at 
this time, engaged in a controversy in regard to the navigation of 
the TMississippi river, and a gentleman writing from the Cherokee? 
country to his friend in Virginia, on the 2d day of August, 1787. 
said: 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 421 

"Through a cliannel that ma}^ be credited, I am informed that 
Alexander McGillivray is using his utmost exertions to engage the 
Creek Indians in a ^\'ar, not only with Georgia, but with the west- 
ern parts of Virginia and No. Carolina, lie has said to some of 
his friends that his object is to make the war as hot as possible at 
first, which will induce overtures for peace, and make the United 
States glad to grant advantageous terms, such as to acknowledge 
the independence and sovereignty of the Creek Nation, and admit 
them as members of the Federal Union. 

"A great number of Tories and other white desperadoes have 
taken refuge in the Creek country. ]\IcGillivray was a noted one, 
but has lately ingi-atiated himself intO' the good graces of the Span- 
ish commandant at ]\Iobile; is now agent for his Catholic Majesty 
in the Creek Nation, and a Colonel in the Spanish pay, and of 
late has usurped the regal authority over the Indians. McGillivray 
seems to be possessed of abilities, has an insatiable ambition for 
honor, and being aggrandized, and may not be much inferior to 
Hyder Ali had he the same opportunity. 

"Upon tlie ^\-hole there is reason to believe that the whole is a 
plan of the Court of Spain to curtail the United States in a part 
of their territory. If that bo the case there cannot be too great care 
taken to disconcert them. If the Creek Nation was well humbled, 
and the nest of Tories that is settled among them routed and 
drove out of the country, I think we might have lasting peace; 
otherwise we may expect that, the longer it is delayed, our enemies 
will become more numerous and formidable." 

A large body of Creeks united and crossed the Hiwassee river, 
declaring their purpose to march for the Holston settlements. 
Colonel Arthui' Campbell, who was in command of the defences 
of this and IJussell county at the time, directed Captain Samuel 
Newell, with a detachment of men, to keep a vigilant outlook for 
the Creek Indians on the frontiers, and, for the purpose of retain- 
ing the friendship of the Cherokee Indians, he sent their chief the 
following talk : 

"Brother: — It is \x\[\\ great concern that we hear that a number 
of your ToAvns' people have lately been killed by some white men 
between Clinch river and Cumberland mountain, and that you 
blame the Virginians for it. As to who done it, I cannot cer- 
tainly say, but have heard that one hundred men from Kentucky 



422 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

had gone towards Cliickainogga Towns to take satisfaction for the 
murder that was done on the Kcntiick-y path last October, and 
what made the people exceedingly angry, was that they heard their 
Captives, mostly women, were all Inirnt in the Chickamogga Towns. 

"You knoAV when the Americans go to war, they kill no prison- 
ers and try to save alive ail tlie women and children. Warriors 
will only seek to fight with men ; cowards may go to war with 
women. 

"Brother, listen attenti\ely; cmt since the year 1781, when your 
towns were all destro^-ed for joining the Phigiish, the Virginians 
buried the tomahawk deep, and never wish to raise it again against 
their brothers, the Cherokees. 1)ut are willing to live in frienrlship 
as long as the moon endures. It will ho your fanlt if the friend- 
ship is broken. I venture to promise further, that none of the Vir- 
ginians living on this side of the Cumlierland moimtains will mo- 
lest the Cherokees without first obtaining orders from our Gover- 
nor, who is a good man, and will see that you have justice doup 
if you remain peaceable. He will also call the Kentuckians to ac- 
count, if they have been guilty of destroying any of the friendly 
Cherokees. 

"Brother, call a Council of your head men, give them this 
Talk, exhort them to live peaceable, and wait until the Governor 
of Virginia can hear all the truth, and if his people are to blame, 
he will give him satisfaction and put a stoji to former wrongs ; but 
if you rashly go to war and kill innocent people, there may be a great 
deal of blood shed, for we can send a great army against yoTi that 
may destroy you altogether. 

"Listen well. You must see that I have now given you good 
advice both fo]- you and your nation. Send me in return an answer, 
a very long talk. Tell me all there is in your heart. If you are for 
keeping the chann of friendship bright, I will be yoiir friend as here- 
tofore, and do you all the good I can. It will give me pleasure to 
use means to heal the wounds and dry u]) the tears of those that 
have lost their friends, and be strong in (uu^eavors to do justice to all 
the I'ed people that keep the peace and love the Americans. 

"ARTHUR CAMPBELL. 
"To ye Great Warrior of the Cherokees." 

In the month of December, 1787, the Lulians killed and scalped 
Stephen English, near Laurel river, on the Kentucky path, and 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 433 

William English and a young woman on Holston, and at the same 
time took a woman and four children prisoners, and made an in- 
cursion into Powell's Valley. They killed also, several men, wo- 
men and children, and, with a number of horses, fled in the direc- 
tion of the Cherokee country. During this year a large quantity 
of powder and lead was sent from the Holston to the Kentucky 
country, but it had to be guarded through the wilderness by fifty 
militia. 

In the fall of this year. Colonel Joseph Martin was discontinued 
from oflSce as Indian agent for the State of Virginia, and was suc- 
ceeded by Dr. White. 

With the opening of the spring of 1788, the Indians began again 
to disturb the settlements, and on the 20th of April, came into the 
Rye Cove settlement and carried off three boys and a negro man, 
two of the boys being the sons of Thomas Carter, who then repre- 
sented Russell county in the General Assembly. Early in the month 
of IMarch, a party of Cherokees visited the settlements on the lower 
Holston, wounded one man and carried off about one hundred 
horses, and in the month of June, 1788, four men were killed in 
Eussell county, and three men were killed and scalped on the 
Black mountain. One of the Elmires, three of the Breedings and 
ISTeal Roberts, from the New Garden settlements in Russell county, 
were found on Black mountain, killed and scalped. 

In the spring of this year the Governor requested the representa- 
tives from Montgomer}', Washington and Russell counties to recoui- 
mend the number of militia and scouts necessary for the protection 
of their several counties, when the following recommendations were 
submitted : 

"1st. That only one troop of horse are necessary to each, regiment, 
and in some counties that might be dispensed with, and that the 
appointment of officers may be deferred until recommendations come 
from the respective counties. 

"2d. We believe six scouts will be sufficient for Washington and 
Russell, four for Montgomery, and the like number for Greenbrier. 

"3d. We hope that at least one full company of Rangers under 
an experienced officer will he allowed to do duty towards the Ohio, 
and, if attacks are apprehended from the Southern Indians, another 
company may be necessary in Powell's Valley, on Clinch. Or the 
last-mentioned company might be raised by occasional drafts from 



424 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

the militia or detaclnnents from the light companies of Washington, 
Montgomery and Enssell. 

"We believe it would be an improvement were the ranging com- 
panies of one-half mnsket men, their guns and bayonets to be of a 
neat and light construction, something similaj- to those used by thy 
British Highland regiments when in America. 

"The scouts ought to occasionally attend the ranging companies, 
and if Indians were to be pursued over the Ohio, horsemen, prop- 
erly armed, would be useful. These are cursory thoughts ; perhaps 
a more perfect plan and more economical might be formed, should 
your Excellency judge it proper to leave the consideration of the 
subject to a council of the field officers of the three Southwestern 
counties, to meet in February, except as to scouts, which we think 
ought to be ordered into service in February or early in March." 

In June of this year, a convention of delegates from the several 
counties of Virginia assembled in Eichmond for the purpose of 
rejecting or ratifying the Constitution of tlie United States, as pro- 
posed by the Philadelphia Convention. 

The delegates from Washington county in this convention were 
Samuel Edmiston and James Montgomery. At tliis time such dis- 
tinguished Virginians as Patrick Henry opposed the ratification of 
the Constitution as submitted by the Philadelphia Convention, but 
the Virginia Convention ratified tlie Constitution Ijy a vote of 89 
to 79, the delegates from Wasliington county \f)ting against the rati- 
fication of the Constitution. 

Colonel Arthur Campbell and liis followers were heartily in favor 
of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and no doubt opposed 
the election of Edmiston and Montgomery. 

In the fall of the year 178S, Richard Pemliei'ton, with his family, 
lived in Baptist Valley about five miles west of Tazewell coiirthouse. 

"On a Sabbath morning late in August, he started to his field, 
accompanied by his wife and two children, to see that his fences 
were not down and to repair any breach that might have been made. 
According to the custom of the times Mr. Pembcrtou had taken with 
him his gun, wliich was his constant companion. After satisfying 
himself that his crops were safe, the little party started back. They 
had gone but a few hundred yards, however, wlien two Indians 
armed witli bo^A•s and arrows, knives and tomahawks, came yelling 
toward them at full speed. In an instant the pioneer's gun was 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 425 

leveled and the trigger pulled; it missed fire and in his hiirry to 
spring the lock again, he broke it and of course, could not fire. See- 
ing him raise his gun to shoot caused the Indians to halt and com- 
mence firing arrows at him. Keeping himself between his wife and 
children and the Indians he ordered them to get on as fast as pos- 
sible and try to reach a house at which a Mr. Johnson lived and 
where several men Mere living. This house was some half a mile 
distant, but he hoped to reach it and save those whom he held dear- 
est, his wife and children. The Indians made every possible attempt 
to separate him from his family, all of which pro^ved vain. They 
would retreat to a respectful distance and then come bounding back 
like so many furies from the regions of indescribable woe. When 
they came too near, he would raise his gun as if he were really 
reserving his fire, which would cause them to halt and try to sur- 
round him. But at every attack they shot their arrows into his 
breast, causing great pain. 

For nearly an hour this running fight was kept up ; still the blood- 
thirsty savages pressed on. At last he was sufficiently near John- 
son's house to be heard. He was heni-d, when he raised his powerful 
voice for succor. But no sooner did the men at the house hear the 
cry of "Indians," than they took to their heels in an opposite direc- 
tion. i'Lt last he arrived at the house closely pursiied by the Indians, 
and entering after his family, barred the door, and began to make 
]u-e])aration for acting more upon the defensive, when the Indians 
made a rapid retreat. Pemberton reached his own house the fol- 
lowing day, where he resided many years, an eye-sore to those who 
liad so ingloriously fled from his assistance. Many arrow points 
which entered his breast were never removed and were carried to th^ 
end of his life, as the best certificate of his bravery and devotion 
to his family."* 

Upon the ratification of the Constitution of the United States, 
the General Assembly of Virginia divided the State into ten con- 
gressional districts, the third district being composed of the follow- 
ing counties: 

Botetourt, Bockbridge, 

i\Iontgomery, Greenbrier, 

Washington, Augusta, 

• r,ussell, Rockingham, 

*Bicklev's History of Tazewell. 



426 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

and directed that an election be held on the 2d day of February, 
1789, at the coiirt-lionse in each county in the district, for the elec- 
tion of a congressman. This election was held pursuant to the 
directions of the General Assembly of Virginia, and Andrew Moore, 
of Eockbridge coamty, was elected our first representative under 
the Constitution of the United States. 

On the 15th day of May, 1789, the Indians visited the home of 
Joseph Johnson, in the Eye Cove settlement, and destroyed nine 
members of his family, Johnson and his two sons making their 
escape. His wife and child were fonnd about one-quarter of a mile 
from the jiouse, killed and scal]ied, and the bones of another child 
were found burned in the house, and the rest were killed or carried 
into captivity. Johnson lived on Clinch river, where the old path 
crossed between the block-house and Eye Cove. 

On the first day of October, 1789, a party of Indians captured 
the family of one Wiley, who lived on the head waters of the Clinch. 
They killed and scalped four of his children and took his wife and 
youngest child into captivity. Mrs. Wiley soon made her escape, 
and upon her return made oath that the Indians told her that they 
would bring four hundred Indians against Clinch and Bluestone 
in the summer of 1790. 

In the fall of this year, William Whitely, who lived in Baptist 
Valley, on the line dividing Eussell and Montgomery counties, had 
occasion to leave his home for a short distance in search of his 
horses, when a party of Indians fell on him and cut him into^ small 
pieces, which they strung on the bushes ; they cut out his heart and 
flung it against the ground with so much violence that it covered 
itself in the soil. Diiring this same year, a party of Shawnese 
Indians ascended the Dry fork of Tug river and fell upon the family 
of James Eoark, who lived at a gap in the dividing ridge between 
the Clinch and Sandy rivers. Eoark and two of his sons were not 
at home at the time. The Indians killed Mrs. Eoark and several 
children. Eoark's Gap, the scene of this massacre, is near Maxwell's 
station in Tazewell county, and the location of the house occupied 
by Eoark and his family is still pointed out by the citizens to every 
passer-by. The house stood near a beautiful spring, and what is 
termed an "Indian mound" is found near by. 

During this same year, John Davidson, who lived on the head 
waters of the Clinch, was waylaid and killed by a band of Indians 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 427 

while feeding his horse at a cabin. The Indians were accompanied 
on this expedition by a white man, who robbed Davidson's saddle- 
bags of their contents. 

In October of the year ITS^, Colonel Campbell made a return of 
the militia of Washington coimty, from which it was ascertained to 
consist of one county lieutenant, one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, 
one major, fifteen captains, thirteen lieutenants, eleven ensigns, 
thirty sergeants, three drummers, two fifers, G75 rank and file, add- 
ing in his remarks, "no return from three companies." 

"In June, 1790, a predatory party of Indians came from the 
Rockcastle hills in. Kentucky and made their appearance at the cabin 
of Isaac Newland, on the North fork of Holston, the place subse- 
quently owned by Michael Fleenor and still in possession of his 
descendants, some eight miles north of Abingdon. Mr. ISTewland 
and his son were at work in a clearing near by, with no one at the 
cabin but his wife and her infant. The Indians captured the mother 
and infant, burnt the cabin and hurried away Avith their captives 
directly through the mountains toward Eussell. The alarm being 
given Jacob Mongle (father of Colonel Abram Mongle), being the 
nearest neighbor, gathered a company in as short a time as possible 
and took the trail, Avhich had been plainly marked by ]\Irs. Newland, 
who had the presence of mind to break tAvigs by the way and leave 
other signs. After reaching the valley in Avhich Lebanon is now 
situated, and fearing that the powder in their flint guns had become 
dampened in passing through the thick undergroAvth of the nioam- 
tain, they discharged their guns for the piirpose of reloading, in 
order to make sure work should they overtake the savages, but it 
unfortunately so happened that the Indians had halted, and hearing 
the report of firearms took the alarm, murdered their victims and 
made their escape. A few minutes after, the pursuing party came to 
Avhere the mother and child were lying, the latter not quite dead. 
They brought them back to the settlements, Jacob Mongle carrying 
the infant, which died in his arms on the way. 

The alarm having reached the little settlement at Abingdon it 
produced great consternation and serious apprehensions as to wdiat 
might befall the little community at Castle's Woods, as the Indians 
would probably return in that direction, it being in a line ^ith their 
toAvns beyond the Cumberland. A young man by the name of Doug- 
lass living at Abingdon, a fearless and determined Indian fighter, 



428 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

proposed to cross the mountains to Castle's Woods, for the purpose 
of warning the settlers of the impending danger, and a young friend 
by the name of Benham, volunteered, against the expostulations of 
his relatives and friends, to accompany him on this perilous 
journey. 

"Everybody in this country acquainted with the old road through 
Little Moccasin Gap, will remember the large, square, flat, tal)le-liko 
rock, some five or six feet high, which stood on the lower side of the 
old trace along the creek not far from opposite the little mill now 
on the new road in the gap, the noisy machinery of which sends 
strange echoes along the surrounding peaks in these days of piping 
peace and corn dodgers. Douglass and Benham had reached that 
rock, and as was the custom of most wayfarers as long as that old 
road was the highway through the gap, had probably halted to eat 
a snack. At this moment the report of a rifle was heard, when 
Douglass fell mortally wounded. 

He at once told Benham that the shot was fatal and urged him to 
dodge intO' the laurel bordering the stream, make his escape to Cas- 
tle's Woods and warn the settlers. Douglass saw the smoke of a 
rifle rise from a log between the stream and where the road now 
passes, and knowing that it was the habit of the Indian to lie still 
under such circumstances till the smoke cleared away, when he 
would cautiously raise his head to see the effect of his fire, he drew 
a bead upon the spot as he lay propped upon his elbow, and Benham 
afterwards stated that he had not gone fifteen yards when he heard 
the report of Douglass's rifle. Benham hurried on through the gap, 
reached Castle's Woods in safety, and gave the alarm. A company 
returning a day or two after found the body of Douglass lying where 
Benham left him, with his scalp gone, and on examining the place 
where the smoke of the Indian's rifle was seen, blood and brains 
were found upon the log, showing that Douglass at the instant he 
entered upon that journey from which no traveler returns, took an 
Indian with him on the solemn march. A grave was excavated 
among the rocks on the roadside where he fell, in which his body 
was deposited and still sleeps, amid the wildest and most romantic 
scenery of all our mountain gorges. It was the custom for each 
passer-by who Icnew the spot to drop a pebble upon the rude mound, 
to perpetuate the memory of the resting place of the brave pioneer 
who sacrificed his life for the safety of others perhaps unknown to 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 429 

him, but the vandalism of modern change, instead of j'cariny ;i iiion- 
ument to his memory on the spot, wantonly changed the locati()n of 
the road to avoid a slight elevation, and thus obliterated forever 
the little hillock that marked the receptacle of the ashes of the hero 
and martyr.* 

Captain Isaac Newland was an active, thriving man, ambitions 
for preferment by his country, but the sad occurrence abo've given 
had such a bad effect upon him, that "grief for a time seemed to 
absorb all powers of his mind and body, and he settled down into a 
deep melancholy, regardless of every object or occurrence. He finally 
sought comfort in religion, and became a Baptist preacher." f 

In the spring of the year 1790, a little boy, the son of John Fra- 
zer, of Eussell county, was taken prisoner, and in the fall of this 
same year, the entire family of John Frazer was murdered on tlie 
Kentucky road. About the middle of August, 1790, six persons 
were killed by the Indians on Clinch river in Russell county. 

In the year 1791, Ensign Simon Cockrell recommended to the 
Governor the placing of ten men at Baptist's Valley, ten men at 
Eichlands, ten men at New Garden, ten men at Glade Hollow, 
twenty men at Castle's Woods, ten men at crossing of Clinch and 
Kentucky road, ten men at Moccasin Gap, ten men at Eye Cove, as 
a protection against the invasion of the Indians, and as far as I 
can ascertain, the people of this section were exempt from Indian 
attacks until the fall of 1792. 

In the fall of 1791, the Governor instructed Captains Andrew 
Lewis and John Preston to recruit two companies of volunteer mili- 
tia for the defence of the frontiers of Montgomery, Wythe and Uus- 
sell counties, and by the 7th of February, 1792, their companies con- 
sisted of four musicians, two ensigns, eight sergeants, eight <x<r- 
porals, six scouts and one hundred and thirty-two privates, l^esido? 
the captains and lieutenants, and with this force Captains Lewis 
and Preston very effectively defended the frontiers during the s\na- 
mer of 1792. 

In the year 1793, in the election for a representative in the Con- 
gress of the United States, the candidates before the people of Ihe 
Fourth District of Virginia, which district was composed of the 
counties of Wythe, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Lee, Eussell, Montgomei-y, 



*Wilburn Waters and Chas. B. Coale. 
tChas. B. Coale. 



430 Southwest Virginia, 171^0-1786. 

Grayson and Washington, were Abraham Trigg, of Montgomery 
county and Francis Preston, of Washington county. 

Abraham Trigg was a Jeffersonian llepublican, while Preston was 
a Washingtonian Federalist, and the contest between the candidates 
representing these diverse principles was bitter. 

The residt was the election of Colonel Preston by a majority of 
ten votes. 

Colonel Trigg was not satisfied with the result and contested the 
election of Preston, and assigned the following grounds to sustain 
his contest. 

First. That the sheriff of Lee county ch)sed tlio i)oll at 2 P. M. 
on the day of the election and refused to reopen the same. 

Second. That the sheriff of Washington county adjourned the 
poll two days instead oi one as retpiired by the law, and that non- 
residents of the State voted for Colonel Preston in said election. 

Third. That Captain William Preston, a brother of Francis Pres- 
ton, was stationed near Montgomery courthouse with sixty or sev- 
enty Federal troops, and that on the day of the election, Captain 
Preston's troops were marched three times around the court-house 
and M'cre paraded in front of and close to the door thereof. 

Fourth. That said troops were polled in favor of Preston. 

That a part of the troops stood at the door of the court- 
house and refused to let the electors favoring Trigg enter the house, 
and in one instance knocked down a magistrate who sought admis- 
sion, being an advocate of Colonel Trigg. 

This contest was as hotly fought before Congress as the election 
had been before the people. 

The Elections Committee of the House of Representatives on the 
17th day of April, 1794, reported in favor of unseating Francis 
Preston. 

This report was debated for numy days, after which a vote was 
taken, which vote resulted in the report of the committee being 
rejected and Francis Preston was thereupon declared duly seated. 

Colonel Preston was returned a mem.ber of Congress from thic 
district by successive elections till the year 1797. 

Thus our district early in its history witnessed a contest before 
the Congress of the United States. 

At the election held for a presidential elector, on the first Monday 
in November, 1792, for the district composed of the counties of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 431 

Wythe, Washington, Russell and Montgomery, Claiborne Watkins 
was selected an elector from this district to vote for President and 
Vice-President of the United States. 

In the month of December, 1793, Captain Tate and forty men 
were passing througlr the wilderness on their way to Kentucky, 
when they were attacked by a company of Creek and Cherokee 
Indians, and, about the same time, several lesser encounters oc- 
curred, but I cannot ascertain the casualties on either side. 

In tlie fall of 1192, the citizens of North Carolina provoked a 
war with the Indians, and, in the month of October, John Watts, 
at the head of a thousand hostile Indians, threatened an invasion of 
the Holston settlements and the settlements in Powell's Valley. 
Watts, with his forces, Ijegan his march for the settlements and 
reached Buchanan's fort within five miles of Knoxville, where he 
v."as repulsed with a loss of fifteen men killed. Watts himself receiv- 
ing a bad Avound. After this repulse, Watts's army dispersed in 
s]nall parties, declaring their purpose to invade the settlements and 
to attack the settlers out of their forts. It was the declared pur- 
pose of Watts and his followers, to drive off and destroy the whole 
of the inhabitants in Powell's Valley. 

The situation was truly alarming for the Virginia settlements in 
Powell's Valley, and the Governor of Virginia requested Colonel 
Arthur Campbell and Captain John Preston to submit to him trieir 
views as to the proper manner to proceed to place the western fron- 
tiers in a defensive position. Colonel Arthur Campbell submitted 
the following proposal : 

"That a company of fifty men as rangers, be engaged for t\rro{^. 
months from the first day of December next, to do duty at or near 
Cumberland Gap. 

As it is in the contemplation of the Executive of the State of 
Kentucky to have a fort built al30ut half way in the wilderness, and 
place a garrison of fifty men in it, our troops, after they fortify their 
camp, may meet those rangers occasionally, and to the southward 
meet those under the direction of Governor Blount, which would 
form a chain of connection that might preclude the necessity of 
troops being stationed on Clinch river. As to attempts of the South- 
ern enem}^, the regulars on the Ohio may cover that frontier from 
the inroads of the Northern Indians. But it will be useless respect- 
ing the Southern war. 



432 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

The post at Cumberland Gap, besides covering a detached fro-.ttier 
settlement in Virginia, will divide the distance between Danville 
ami Hawkins Conrthonse and of course will facilitate the trans- 
portation of tlie mail and secure our intercourse with the army on 
the Ohio by land. 

This is a plan of economy, on account of the idea of the Executive 
of the general government. A full company ought to be the number 
for this service, as they may be assailed by large parties of Indimis 
and as they will be more than one hundred milps from the settle- 
ment from which they can expect succour in case of extremity. 

It will be peculiarly mortifying, if the frontier of .Virginia, 
exposed to the attacks of the Southern Indians, be neglected, vvdien 
their neighl)ors in the Southwestern Territory, not so much in dan- 
ger, have an ample force ranging around the ■^ettl.nuents. Tlie 
Virginians, without murmuring, pay duties to the general govern- 
uipnt; the citizens of the Southwestern Territory not a shilling; 
Georgia and South Carolina are arranging to oppoi^e the sami' 
enemy, and will no doubt be paid for their services out of tbe Tveas- 
nry of the United States." 

Captain John Preston proposed, that there should be statioued: 

"At the mouth of Greenbrier, an ensign, sergeant and -ixteen 
privates. 

"At tbe five-mile fork of East river, a lieutenant, onf; sergeant, a 
corporal and twenty-four privates. 

"At Lincolnshire, on Clinch, a captain, a sergeant, a corporal and 
twcnty-fo4i r privates. 

"At Hawkins, in the Baptist Valley, a sergeant and eight privates. 

"At Brown's or Fngate's, in the Eichlands, a sergeant, corporal 
and twelve privates. 

"At Wilkinson's, in the New Garden, a lieutenant, sergeant and 
sixteen privates. 

"At the mouth of Dump's creek, an ensign, two corporals and 
twelve privates. 

"At Eoberson's, in Castle's Woods, a captain, a sergeant, corporal 
and twenty-four privates. 

"At Blackmore's Station, a sergeant, corporal and twelve privates. 

"At Carter's, in Eye Cove, a captain, sergeant, corporal and 
twenty-four privates. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 433 

"At Turkey Cove, a captain, sergeant, corporal and twenty-four 
privates. 

"At Martin's old station, an ensign, sergeant and corporal. 

"At Cox's, an ensign, sergeant, corporal and sixteen privates. 

"At Martin's lower station, sometimes called the blockhouse, 
where Robinson lives, which is the lower settlement of Virginia, 
and where tlie Kentucky road enters this State, a captain, two ser- 
geants, two corporals and thirty-one privates. 

"At Blackwater branch, a place exposed to the south in Lee 
eoimty, a lieutenant, sergeant, corporal and twelve privates. 

"And tlie scouts to be dispersed along the frontier as shall be 
deemed necessary, and changed when required." 

I cannot say which proposition was acted upon, but it is certain 
that steps were taken to protect the frontiers. 

Captain Matthew Willoughby and Ensign William Campbell 
were stationed in Powell's Valley. 

The trouble with the Indians began at the opening of spring in 
the year 1793. On Sunday about the first day of April, Ensign 
Moses Cockrell and two men were passing from Eye Cove to Powell's 
Valley, with several loaded horses. On the top of Powell's mountain 
they were fired on by twelve Indians. The two men who accompa- 
nied Cockrell were shot dead on the spot, and Cockrell himself was 
]jursued to the foot of the mountain. Two of his horses were killed 
and all the loads lost. 

Captain N'eal, with a party, pursued the Indians but did not suc- 
ceed in overtaking them. The Cliief who led this company of 
Indians was a half-breed Shawnese by the name of Benge. A writer 
in speaking of this occurrence says : "He was remarkable for his 
strength, activity, endurance and gxeat speed as a runner. He was 
a man of more than average intelligence also, as well as of great 
bravery and strategy, and had more than once approached the settle- 
ments so stealthily and by a route so secret that he fell upon the scat- 
tered settlers without an intimation of his approach and retired to 
his wigwams beyond the Cumberland without leaving a trace of the 
route he had traveled, though rangers were constantly on the lookout 
for his trail. One of these rangers of the Holston settlements was 
a man by the name of Cockrell, and the writer must make a digres- 
sion to record an incident in his history. He was famous for his 
size, activity and handsome person. Benge and himself were rivals 



434 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

in manhood and woodcraft, each jealous of the other's prowess and 
courage, and both anxious for an occasion to meet in single combat. 
Not many months before Benge's last incursion, they met on top of 
Powell's mountain, in what is now Lee county, each with a band 
of followers. The Indians were in ambush, having observed the 
approach of the whites, -who were not aware of their proximity, and 
Benge instructed his companions not to kill Cockrell, so that he 
himself might run him down and capture him. At the crack of the 
Indian rifles two or three of Cockrell's companions fell; seeing 
which and at once comprehending the folly of a combat with a 
dozen savages, he sprang away down the mountain side, like an ante- 
lope, with Benge in close pursuit. Two miles away in the valley on 
Wallen's creek was the cabin of a pioneer, in reaching which Cock- 
rell knew was his only chance of escape. Having two hundred 
dollars in specie in a belt around him, he found he was carrying two 
much weight for a closely contested race, and that Benge was gain- 
ing on him. Making a desperate effort, however, he increased his 
speed a little, and as he leaped the fence that surrounded the cabin, 
Benge's tomahawk was buried in the top rail before Cockrell reached 
the ground. Benge seeing that he had missed his aim, and not 
knowing how many men and rifles might be in the cabin, fled back 
to his companions, sadly disappointed. 

A few years after this Cockrell died on the north fork in this 
county, and during the "wake," while his body lay in the cabin, an 
old comrade who had been in many a hard pinch with him, thus 
gave utterance to his thoughts and feelings as he paced the punch- 
eon floor in great sorrow : "Poor Cockrell, he is gone ! He was a 
noble fellow after Injuns and varmints, and I hope he has gone to 
where there is as much game and as desperate good rang© as he 
had on Holston !"* 

During the same week, fourteen persons were killed on the Ken- 
tucky road, near the Hazel Patch. The whites discovered the In- 
dians and attempted to secure the first fire, but failed, and only 
two of the whites made their escape. The Indians lost five dead, 
and one white man with them killed. Both parties broke and ran 
at the same time in opposite directions. 

About the 15th of March, 1793, several emigrants were killed on 



*Coale's "Wilburn Waters." 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 435 

the Kentucky road. Captain Andrew Lewis, to appease the set- 
tlers who were about to break up, placed a sergeant and twelve men 
at Dump's creek. 

At Eye Cove, a sergeant and seven men. 

At St. Mary's, with the French, a sergeant and seven men, which 
left twenty men at Fort Lee. 

On the 20th day of March, 1793, a party of Indians numbering 
twent3'^-three appeared upon the frontiers of Wythe and Montgom- 
ery, frequently showing themselves, to the terror of tlie inhabitants. 
Jolm Davidson was murdered by them and a number of horses were 
stolen from Wolf creek, Bluestone and Island creek. The Indians 
made their escape, except a small party entrusted with the care of 
about eighty horses, from Island creek. This company was pur- 
sued by a large party from Bluestone and another from the head of 
Clinch, and were -overtaken the next day, at the mouth of Little 
Cole, at what is called the Island of Guyandotte, where they were 
attacked by the whites. Three of their number were killed and 
scalped, all the horses retaken, with the arms and blankets of a part 
of their warriors. The number of Indians concerned in the murder 
of John Davidson at the Laurel fork of Wolf creek was about twelve. 
This party of Indians carried ojff a number of horses from that 
neighborhood and passed with them in daylight through, the heart 
of the Bluestone settlement. 

Colonel Arthur Campbell, in the spring of the year 1793, was 
commissioned by the President of the United States as Indian 
agents, and in April of this year, communicated to the Presi- 
dent of the United States a request from the Chickasaw Indians 
for the building of a fort and the settling of a strong garrison, at 
the Muscle Shoals,* and, in commenting upon this request wrote: 
"I will observe on this invitation, that I am of opinion, from the 
best information, that the United States had never so great an offer 
made them, for the point of position which they will give peaceably 
into our hands commands a portage of sixteen miles only, between 
the Tennessee and the navigable waters of the Mobile, as well as an 
immense extent of country, which must shortly become the bone of 
Spanish contention, and facilitate the route to many angles on the 



*Near Chattanooga, Term. 



436 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

Mississippi. It is Nature's masterpiece for an immense and power- 
ful city. It intercepts the main communication between the hostile 
tribes of the ISTortli and South. It secures the Chickasaw and Choc- 
taw JSTations as effective light infantry in our service. It places the 
troops where they can be supplied with every necessary, even with 
native productions from the respective western settlements, and puts 
lis in a condition to convey heavy artillery o.*" our owu casting as 
■\vcii as arjiiy and military supplies, with a degree of facility unsus- 
pected by the Spanish, whenever the threatening harms shall burst 
on this devoted countr}^, this field of contest." 

'J 'his extract from the writings of Colonel Campbell, is given to 
illustrate his character and foresight. j 

In the same letter he says : "I have nearly completed a new map 
of all this country, as well as that of Kentucky and a part of the 
northwestern territory, and shall go on in a few days to lay it before 
the President." I am sorry indeed that I cannot find this map in 
any of the lecords I have been able to obtain. 

Colonel Isaac Bledsoe was killed on Cumberland in the month of 
April, and on the 20th of the month, a skirmish took place between 
twenty Indians and eight white men at Laurel river, in Ken- 
tucky, in which skirmish the white people were all killed, except 
McFarland, who escaped, and a number who were wounded. 

In the month of March, 1793, a considerable band of Indians 
were seen on the headwaters of the Clinch river attempting to 
steal horses. The Indians finally succeeded in stealing eight 
horses, and made off toward the Ohio. In the meantime Major 
Eobert Crockett proceeded to gather a company to pursue the In- 
dians, and wliile engaged in gathering them in he directed Joseph 
Gilbert and Samuel Lusk, two scouts, to follow the Indians, and, 
in case they found them, to give him information. 

Gilbert and Lusk had not followed the Indians more than an 
hour, when they came to a lick, at which the Indians had con- 
cealed themselves waiting for deer or elk. As soon as the scouts 
approached the lick they were fired upon by the Indians, and 
Lusk was wounded in the hand. Gilbert turned and started to 
run, when Lusk called him to stay and save his life, if possible. 
Gilbert, fired with all the noble instincts of true manhood, turned 
and shot the first Indian dead on the spot. The Indians sur- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 437 

rounded him, and, his gun being empty, he dropped it and drew 
his hunting knife, and attacked the Indians with such spirit that 
they dared no longer get within his reach; but they used their 
tomahawks with such effect that he soon lay dead by the side of 
Lusk, who was now reviving. The Indians scalped Gilbert and 
carried Lusk off a prisoner. Major Crockett and his force came 
up after some time, but they were too late to accomplish any good. 

On the 25th of April, 1793, the first postofiice on the waters of 
the Holston or Clinch was established at Abingdon with Gerrard 
T. Conn as postmaster, this being the first time that the people of 
this portion of Virginia . were given the privilege of mail facilities. 
Previous tO' this time the means employed by the people for com- 
munication was by sending their lettm-s by tJio hand of some one 
going or returning. A citizen of Abingdon, contemplating a trip 
to Kentucky, or to the Valley, or Eastern Virginia, would adver- 
tise the fact, and the time when he would begin his journey, that 
he might be the bearer of letters and messages between the people. 

The settlements, as far as I can ascertain, were exempt from in- 
vasion by the Indians until the month of October of this year. 
On the third day of this month a party of Indians attacked two 
families who had lately settled on the road through the wilder- 
ness, on the Kentucky side of the Cumberland mountain, within 
three miles of Hawkins' Station. They killed one man and 
wounded two children, but were driven off by a man who occupied 
an adjoining house. 

In the fall of 1793, a party of eight Indians passed through 
the thinly-settled parts of Kussell county, and captured a negro 
woman, the property of Paul Livingston, near Big Moccasin Gap, 
but before they could carry her beyond the settlements she made 
her escape and reached her home. 

On the 14th day of April, 1794, a number of ^citizens presented 
&, petition to the Governor, which is as follows : 

^'The memorial and petition of the subscribers, Inhabitants in 
the western part of Washington county, and the eastern settle- 
ments of Lee, near Mockison Gap, — 

"Humbly sheweth. That altho' we have been considered an in- 
terior settlement, yet, from yarious unfortunate occurrences, it 



438 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-17S6. 

must appear that we are equally exposed with the most distant 
frontier settlements. 

"That by attending to the geography of the Southwestern fron- 
tier, it will appear that from the western settlement of Russell 
county, on Clinch river, and the eastern of Lee in Powell's Valley, 
there is an uninhabited space of more than twenty miles nearly 
north of your petitioners' dwellings, which makes us to that extent 
a frontier to the State, 

"That the predatory parties of the Indians, always industrious 
in discovering the weakness of our settlements, have for years past 
made their inroads through this vacant or uninhabited space, and 
have committed several cruel murders in the neighborliood of your 
petitioners, as will appear by the folloAving detail : 

"August 26, 1791, a party of Indians headed by a Captain Bench, 
of the Cherokee tribe, attacked the house of Elisha Ferris, two 
miles from M'Ockison Gap, murdered Mr. Ferris at his house, and 
m.ade prisoner Mrs. Ferris and her daughter, Mrs. Livingston, and 
a young child together with Nancy Ferris. All but the latter were 
cruelly murdered the first day of their captivity. 

"April 1793, the same chief with a party of Indians, attacked 
and murdered the family of Harper Eatcliffe, six in number, about 
eight miles west of the above-mentioned gap. 

"March 31, 1793, the enemy attacked on Powell's mountain 
Moses Cockrell and two others, who had horses loaded with mer- 
chandise ; killed two men, took all the goods, and pursued Mr. Cock- 
rell nearly two miles. 

"July 17, 1793, Bench with two other warriors traversed the set- 
tlement, on the north fork of Holston for upwards of twenty miles, 
probably with the intention of making discoveries where were negro 
property. In this rout they fired at one Williams, and took pri- 
soner a negro woman, the property of Paul Livingston, who after 
two days captivity made her escape. 

"And lastly, April 6, 1794, the melancholy disaster which befell 
Mr. Livingston's family and property, which has urged this appli- 
cation for assistance to prevent the depopulation of a considerable 
settlement. 

"From the above facis your Excellency and Council will be a 
judge of the justice of our claim, that such protection be afforded 
us, as the State may be able to afford and our necessities require. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 439 

"All of which we submit with deference and your petitioners 

will ever pray. 

"A. BLEDSOE, 
"GEOEGE WILCOX, 
"ABRAHAM FULKERSON, 
"JOHN V. COOK, 
"JAMES FULKERSON, 

"April 14, 1794." 

The disaster referred to in this communication as happening to 
Mr. Livingston's family, occurred on the Gth of April, 1794, neai- 
the present town of Mendota in this county. 

William Todd Livingston was one of the first persons to settle in 
this county and was the first and only man for many years in the 
county, who had more than one name. He had died some years pre- 
ceding this occurrence, and his son Peter Livingston, had become 
the owner of his valuable lands and numerous negro slaves. The 
Indians, in making their incursions into the country, never failed 
to steal and carry off a negro slave, when possible, and there can 
be but little doubt that the presence of negroes at the Living- 
ston farm, attracted tlie attention of the Indians. An account of 
this Indian raid was given by Mrs. Elizabeth Livingston, and put 
flown in her presence nearly in her own words, and is as follows : 

"April 6th, 1794. 
"About 10 o'clock in the morning, as I was sitting in my house. 
the fierceness of the dog's barking alarmed me. I looked out and 
saw seven Indians approaching the house, armed and painted in a 
frightful manner. No person was then within, but a child of ten 
years old, and another of two, and my sucking infant. My husband 
and his brother Henry had just before walked out to a barn at some 
distance in the field. My sister-in-law, Susanna, was with the 
remaining children in an out-house. Old Mrs. Livingston was in 
the garden. I immediately shut and fastened the door; they (the 
Indians) came furiously up, and tried to burst it open, demanding 
of me several times to open the door, which I refused. They then 
fired two guns; one ball pierced through the door, but did me no 
damivgo. T then tliought of my husband's rifle, took it down but it 
being double triggered, I was at a loss; at length I fired through the 
door, but it not being well aimed I did no execution; however the 



440 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Indians retired from tliat place and soon after that an old adjoining 
house was on tire, and I and my children suffering much from the 
smoke. I opened the door and an Indian immediately advanced 
and took me prisoner, together with tlu' two chikh-eu. I then dis- 
covered that they had my remaining children in their pos- 
session, my sister Sukey, a wench with her young child, a negro 
man of Edward Callihan's and a negro boy of our own about eight 
years old. They were fearful of going into the house I left, to 
plunder, supposing that it had been a man that shot at them, and 
was yet within. So our whole clothing and household furniture 
were consumed in the flames, which I was then pleased to see, rather 
than that it should be of use to the savages. 

"We were all hurried a short distance, where the Indians were 
very busy, dividing and putting up in packs for each to carry his 
part of the booty taken. I observed them careless about the chil- 
dren, and most of the Indians being some distance off in front, 
I called with a low voice to my eldest daughter, gave her my young- 
est child, and told them all to run towards neighbor John Russell's. 

"They, with reluctance, left me, sometimes halting, sometimes 
looking back. I beckoned them to go, although I inwardly felt 
pangs not to be expressed on account of our doleful separation. 
The two Indians in the rear either did not notice this scene, or they 
were willing the children might run back. 

"That evening the Indians crossed Clinch Mountain and went 
as far as Copper creek, distant about eight miles. 

"April 7th, set out early in the morning, crossed Clinch river 
at McLean's fish dam about twelve o'clock, then steered north- 
wardly towards the head of Stoney creek. There the Indians 
camped carelessly, had no back spy nor kept sentries out. This 
day's journey wsls, about twenty miles. 

"April 8th. Continued in camp until the sun was more than an 
hour high ; then set out slowly and traveled five or six miles and 
camped near the foot of Powell's mountain. This day Benge, the 
Indian chief, became more pleasant, and spoke freely to the pri- 
soners. He told them he was ahout to carry them to the Cherokee 
towns. That in his route in the wilderness was his brother with 
two other Indians hunting, so that he might have provision when 
he returned. That at his camp were several white prisoners taken 
from Kentucky, with horses and saddles to carry them to the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 441 

towns. He made enquiry for several persons on Holston, particu- 
larly old General Shelby, and said he would pay him a visit during 
the ensuing summer, and take away all his negroes. He frequently 
enquired who had negroes, and threatened he would liave thcni all 
off the North Holston. He said all the Chickaniogga towns were 
for war, and would soon be very troublesome to the white folks. 
"This day two of the party were sent by Benge ahead to hunt. 
"April 9th. After travelling about five miles, which was over 
Powell's mountain, and near the foot of the Stone mountain,* a 
party of thirteen men under command of Lieutenant Vincent 
Hobbs, of the militia of Lee county, met the enemy in front, 
attacked and killed Benge the first fire, I being at that time some 
distance off in the rear. The Indian who was my guard at first 
halted on hearing the firing. He then ordered me to run, wliidi 
I performed slowly. He attempted to strike me in the head M^itli 
the tomahawk, which I defended as well as I could with my arm. 
By this time two of our people came in view, which encouraged me 
to struggle all I could. The Indian making an effort at this 
instant pushed me backward, and I fell over a log, at the same 
time aiming a violent blow at my head, which in part spent its force 
on me and laid me for dead. The first thing I afterwards remem- 
bered was my good friends around me, giving me all the assistance 
in their power for my relief. They told me I was senseless for 
about an hour. 

"Certified this 15th day of April, 1794. 

«A CAMPBELL." 

Vincent Hobbs was a lieutenant in the militia of Lee county, 
and, at the time in question, he was attending the court of tliat 
county which was in session. Upon the arrival of the express with 
the news of the Indian invasion, the court immediately adjourned 
and a party was organized upon the spot, under the command of 
Hobbs, to waylay a gap in Cumberland mountain called the Stone 
gap, through which, it was supposed, the Indians Avore uinstly to 
pass. On his arrival at the gap, Hobbs discovered that the Tndiaus 
had just passed through before him; he therefore pursued with 
eagerness and soon discovered two Indians kindling a fire; these, 
they instantly dispatched, and finding some plunder with llioin, 



*Near Dorchester, Wise county. 



442 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

which they knew must, have heen taken out of Livingston's house, 
they at once came to the conclusion that these two had been sent 
forward to hunt for provisions and that the others were yet behind 
with the prisoners. 

"The object of Hobbs was now to make a quick retreat, to cover 
his own sign if possible, at the gap, before the Indians should dis- 
cover it, and perhaps kill the prisoners and escape. Having gained 
this point he chose a place of ambuscade; but not exactly liking 
tliis position he left the men there, and taking one with him by the 
name of Van Bibber, he went some little distance in advance to 
try if he could find a place more suitable for his purpose. As they 
sl-ood looking around for such a place, they discovered the Indians 
coming up with their prisoners. They cautiously concealed them- 
selves and each singled out his man. Benge, having charge of the 
younger Mrs. Livingston, led the van, and the others followed in 
succession; but the Indian who had charge of the elder Mrs. Liv- 
ingston was considerably behind, she not being able to march with 
the same light, elastic step of her sister. When the front came 
directly opposite to Hobbs and Van Bibber they both fired, Hobbs 
killing Benge, and Van Bibber the one next behind him. At the 
crack of the rifle tlie other men rushed forward, but the Indians 
had escaped into a laurel thicket, taking with them a negro fellow. 
The Indian who had charge of the elder Mrs. Livingston tried his 
best to kill her, but he was so hurried that he missed his aim. Her 
arms were badly cut by defending her head from the blows of his 
tomahawk. The prisoners had scarcely time to recover from their 
surprise before the two Livingstons, who heard the guns and were 
now in close pursuit with a party of men from Washington, came 
running up and received their wives at the hands of Hobbs with a 
gust of joy. Four Indians were killed and five had escaped, and 
it appears they were separated into parties of three and two. The 
first had the negro fellow with them, and, by his account, they 
lodged that night in a cave, where he escaped from them and got 
home. !^' M 

In the meantime a party of the hardy mountaineers of Eussell 
collected and proceeded in haste to wa3day a noted Indian crossing 
place high up on the Kentucky river. When they got there they 
found some Indians had just passed. They immediately drew the 
same conclusion that Hobbs had done, and hastened back to tlie 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 443 

river for fear those behind should discover their sign. Shortly 
after they had stationed themselveS;, the other three made their 
appearance; the men fired upon them, two fell and the other fled, 
bat left a trail of blood behind him, which readily conducted his 
pi^rsuers to where he had taken refuge in a thick canebrake. It 
was thought imprudent to follow him any further, as he might be 
concealed and kill some of them before they could discover him. 
Tims eight of the party were killed and the other perhaps mortally 
wounded."* 

Colonel Campbell communicated to the Grovernor of Virginia the 
circumstances attending this raid by the Indians; along with the 
written statement of Mrs. Livingston, as heretofore given. Colonel 
Campbell in his letter to the Governor, says : "The scalp of Captain 
Benge, I have been requested to forward to your Excellency, as a 
proof that he is no more, and of the activity and good conduct of 
Lieutenant Hobbs, in killing him and relieving the prisoners. 
Could it be spared from our treasury, I would beg leave to hint 
that a present of a neat rifle to Mr. Hobbs would be accepted, as 
a reward for his late services, and the Executive may rest assured 
that it would serve as a stimulus for future exertions against the 
enemy." The General Assembly of Virginia, pursuant to this 
recommendation, voted Lieutenant Vincent Hobbs a handsome and 
costly silver-mounted rifle. ]\Iany of the descendants of Lieutenant 
Hobbs live in Southwest Virginia at this time, and are highly 
respected and patriotic. 

One of the principal creeks in the county of Wise, at this day 
bears the name of the Indian chief, Benge. 

This is the last recorded invasion of Southwest Virginia by the 
red men. 

On the 2d of June, 1794, Colonel Campbell reported the militia 
of the county to the Governor of Virginia as follows: Eegiment 
No. 70, brigade ISTo. 17, division No. 3, 1,287 free white males of 
sixteen years and upwards, completely organized. 

In August of tliis year William King and James Caldwell, 
natives of Ireland and merchants by profession, took tlie oath of 
fidelity to the Commonwealth in the county court of tin's county. 

William Kina;, avIio at this time became a citizen of Washinirton 



*MSS letter of Benj Rharp. 



444 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

county, afterwards became oue of the wealthiest and most influen- 
tial men who ever lived in this county and left a large number of 
relatives. 

The General Assembly of Virginia, on the 28th day of December, 
1794, passed -an act requiring the people of Washington county to 
pay their taxes for the years 1782-1783-1784, and appointed 
Thomas Mitchell to collect the same as the officer of the State, and 
after some time, he succeeded in collecting all that was due the 
State from the people of the county. 

In the year 1795, a number of tlie citizens of Washington and 
Eussell counties emancipated tlieir slaves; among the numlx'r 
Elizabeth Eussell, sister of Patrick Henry and Avife of General Wil- 
liam Campbell, Francis Preston, Charles Bickley and others. The 
deeds executed by Mrs. Eussell and Francis Preston are as follows: 

Whereas by the wrong doing of tucu it hath been the unfortu- 
nate lot of the following negroes to be slaves for life, to-wit : Vina. 
Adam, Nancy sen., Nancy, Kitty and Selah. And whereas believ- 
ing the same have come into my possession by the direction of Prov- 
idence, and conceiving from the clearest conviction of my con- 
science aided by the power of a good and just God, that it is l)ot]i 
sinful and unjust, as they are l)y nature equally free with my>^elf, 
to continue them in slavery, I do, therefore, by these presents, under 
the influence of a duty I not only owe my conscience, but the just 
God who made us all, make free the said negroes hoping while 
they are free of man they will faithfully serve their Maker through 
the merits of Christ. 

Given under my hand and seal this 21st day of July. 1795. 

l^LTZABETH EUSSELL, (L. S.) 

To all whom it may concern : 

Whereas my negro man John (alias) John Broady, claims a 
promise of freedom from his former master General William Camp- 
bell, for his faithful attendance on him at all times, and more par- 
ticularly while he was in the army in the last war, and I who claim 
the said negro in right of my wife, daughter of the said General 
William Campbell, feeling a desire to emancipate the said negro 
man John, as well for the fulfillment of the above-mentioned prom- 
ise, as the gratification of being instrumental of prompting a parti- 
cipation of liberty to a fellow creature, who by nature is entitled 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 445 

tlioroto, do by these presents J'or inyself, 1113' heirs, exeeiilois and 
iuhiiiiiistrators fully eiiuuiciptite ami make iVee to all inteiiis and 
purposes the said negio uuui John (alias) John liioadv liom uu; 
I'orever. As witness my hand and seal, this 2()th day of .Septeniher, 
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three. 

FRANCIS PRESTON, (L. S.) 

From an inspection of tlie leeords of our court at the time in 
question, it seems that there was a strong sentiment prevailing 
among the people of this section of A'irginia in iiwov of abolishing 
slavery. 

The next occurrence of importance was the organization of a 
Masonic lodge, at tlie house of James White, in the town of Abing- 
don, on the 3d day of October, 179G, by virtue of a dispensation 
fi-oni the Grand Master of Virginia This lodge of Masons was 
organized through the influence of William King, Daniel Murphcy, 
Robert Johnston, Charles Carson, William Preston Skillem, Francis 
Preston, Claiborne Watkins and Joseph Hays. The lodge thus 
organized is still in existence, and has exercised a wonderful 
influence foe good in the history of our county. 

Upon the death of General Washington, in the year 1799, infor- 
mation of which reached Abingdon, in January, 1800, the Masonic 
Lodge, at their regular stated meeting on the 21st day of January, 
adopted the following resolutions : 

"The lodge, viewing with a lively regret the loss the world and 
particularly Masonry has sustained by the death of our beloved 
brother, 'the great Washington,' and being desirous to exhibit a 
testimonial of its exalted opinion of its virtues, 

"Resolved, That the Worshipful Master, Francis Preston, be 
requested to deliver an eulogiuni on the 22d day of next month, at 
the courthouse, adapted to the occasion." 

And at a stated meeting of the lodge on the 18th of February, 
1800, the following resolutions wei-e adopted: 

"On motion of Bivothtxi' Smith, seconded by Brother Tate, 
ordered that a committee be appointed by the Worshipful ]\laster, 
consisting of five mend)ers of the lodge to meet a comnuttee of the 
citizens of Washington county in order to^ enter into regulations for 
the celebration of the memory of the great Washington on the 22d 
instant, so that the Mason and the soldier may be united with ease 



44G Southioest Virginia, 17-1^6-1786. 

and ornament. That the said committee do meet the citizens forth- 
with; whereupon the Master appointed Brothers William Tate, 
Eobert Preston, Francis Smith, William King and Joseph Hays to 
f'Orm the said committee. 

"Resolved, That on the 22d instant the Masons meet at their 
hall and march in procession from the lodge to the court-house, 
after which, each Mason acting as captain of the militia, will pro- 
ceed to his company with his Masonic apparatus, uniting in the 
man the Mason raid the soldier." 

While there is no documentary evidence of the fact, there can 
be but little doubt that a great concourse of the citizens of Wash- 
ington county assembled at Abingdon on the 23d day of February, 
1800, to pay a last tribute to the memory of the great Washington. 

Upon the reassembling of the Masonic lodge on the evening of 
the same day, a committee was appointed with instructions to 
draft an account and a sketch of the proceedings of the day, and 
to have the same published in the "Virginia Argus," a news- 
paper published in Richmond, Virginia, along with the address of 
Francis Preston delivered upon the occasion. 

At the March term, 1799, of the court of Washington county, 
Virginia, William King, James Armstrong, John Eppler and Rob- 
ert Craig, were appointed a committee to report to the next court 
the plan of a stone prison and the probable expense of building 
the same. 

This committee reported at the ilpril term, 1799, and the con- 
tract for the building of the new jail or prison house was let to 
James White, at the sum of $1,536.21. 

He was paid a large part of the contract price for building this 
jail, out of the moneys derived from the sale of lots in the town of 
Abingdon, and the balance was paid by a levy upon the citizens of 
the county. 

In this year the militia of Washington county was rearranged, 
the Seventieth Regiment of militia was divided, and the One 
Hundred and Fifth Regiment of militia organized, Colonel Fran- 
cis Preston commanding the Seventieth and Colonel Robert Camp- 
bell the One Himdred and Fifth Regiment of militia of Washing- 
ton county upon its reorganization. 

By the year 1803, William King and other enterprising citizens 
of the county were actively engaged in the manufacture of salt at 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 447 

Saltville, Virginia, and tliroiigii the influence of these gentlemen 
the General Assembly of A^irginia undertook the first internal 
improvement upon the public account in Southwestern Virginia. 

On the 28th day of December, 1803, the General Assembly of 
Virginia incorporated the Abingdon and Saltville Turnpike, and 
appointed William King, Francis Preston, William Tate, William 
Poston,' Samuel Edmiston, James White and David Campbell, com- 
missioners to mark out and let to contract the building of a turn- 
pike road from Abingdon to Saltville. 

This Act of the Assembly provided that "the tolls received from 
the said road should be subject to the order of the General Assem- 
bl}' of Virginia," and by the same Act the tolls to be charged foT 
the use of said road was prescribed as follows: 

One loaded wagon and team, 25c. 

On every cart, per wheel, 5c. 

On every saddle-horse, 6c. 

On riding carriages per wheel, 6c. 

On' every head of cattle, Ic. 

This road was for many years the best to^ be found in our 
county. 

Some time between the years 1800-1810, a new court-house built 
of brick was erected in the town of Abingdon on the southeast cor- 
ner of the present public square. The date of the erection of this 
court-house, its dimensions and cost, along with the name of the 
contractor, cannot be ascertained, as the records of the court cov- 
ering this period have been destroyed. 

Nothing of sullicient importance to be recorded occurred in this 
county, so far as I can ascertain, from 1803 until the year 1806. 

On the 4th day of January, 1806, John G. Ustick published the 
first newspaper, so far as I can ascertain, in Washington county, 
the title of which was the "HOLSTON INTELLIGENCEE AND 
ABINGDON ADVEETISEP," a four-column, four-page paper, 
a copy of which is preserved, a very creditable paper indeed, giv- 
ing the local news of the county, the proceedings of Congress and 
foreign news. 

Abingdon has not been without a newspaper from January 4, 
lS()6s until the present time, except the period from December 15, 
1861. wlien the town was burned by the Federal troops, to December 
8, 1865. 



448 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

THE WAR OF 1812-1815. 

By the opening of the year 1813, the situation of affairs was such 
as to strongly indicate A\'ar between tlie United States and Great 
Britain. The American pul)lic Avas greatly excited and seemed 
to be anxious for the conflict. The government of the United 
States was making every preparation for war. • 

In the spring of the year 1812, tlie Congress of the United 
States passed a resolution by a vote of 79 to 49 declaring war against 
Great Britain, over the protest of the Federalist members of Con- 
gress, among the number being Daniel Sheffey, the member from 
this district, and on the 18th day of June, 1812, the Senate of 
the United States, by a vote of 19 to 18, concurred in the resolu- 
tion of Congress, and war was formally declared. 

On July 6, 1812, David Campbell was commissioned a major in 
the Twelfth Kegiment of Infantry, A. S. A., and, raising all 
recruits possible, he proceeded to Winchester, Virginia, where he 
joined his legiment. The Twelfth Regiment of Infantry was 
ofti('ei'(>(l as follows: 

Colonel. Thomas Parker. 

rjieutenant-Colonel James Patton Preston, of Montgomery 
county. 

]Major. David Campbell, of Washington county. 

Captains : 

John Gibson, Archibald C. Randolpli, 

James Charlton, Thomas P. Moore, 

Charles Page, A. L. Madison, 

Willonghby Morgan, James Paxton. 

Lientenants : 

L. B. Willis, J. G. Camp, 

Ijockville Jackson, Angus McDonald, 

Eichard P. Fletcher, P. G. Kite. 

Second Lieutenants: 

Russell Harrison, William Stone, 

John Keys, John Kenny, 

Matthew Hughes, John Towles, 

0. W. Callis, Robert Houston, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 440 

Ensigns : 

J. W. McGavock, Isaac Keys, 

John Shommo, Bailey Bruce, 

Philip Wagoner, W. C. Parker, 

Thomas B. Barton. 

On the 10th of April, 1812, President Madison issueil an order 
for 12,000 men for the regular army from Virginia, which men 
were to be taken from the several militia regiments of the State. 
To make up this number, the Seventeenth Brigade was required 
to furnish 488 men, of which Captain Francis Preston's rifle com- 
pany was to furnish fifty men, Captain Tupper's company, of Mont- 
gomery county, fifty men; Captain Hale's rifle company, Grayson 
county, fifty men; Captain Steffey's comjDany, of Wythe county, 
fifty men. 

It is probable that the forces thus levied accompanied Major 
David Campbell to Winchester. Upon the arrival of Major David 
Camjjbell at Winchester, he immediately proceeded to assist in drill- 
ing and recruiting the regiment, which regiment, on the 29th day 
of August, 1812, marched for the lakes of Canada, where it was 
placed under the command of Alexander Smyth, of Wythe comity, 
who, on the 6th day of July, 1812, was commissioned by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, inspector-general with the rank of briga- 
dier. General Smyth, on the 15th day of June, 1812, was in 
Washington city, and addressed a letter to a gentleman in Abing- 
don in which he stated : 

"It is whispered, and I have no doubt of the fact, that to-day 
the Senate passed the bill from the House of Eepresentatives for 
declaring war against Great Britain. 

"The recruits west of the Blue Eidge in Virginia are intended 
for the North. Considering this circumstance together with the 
land bounty, the abolition of coi'poral punishment, &c., I shall 
expect the recruiting service to succeed well." 

Upon the first intimation of war, many of the citizens of this 
county immediately volunteered their services to their country. 

In March of the year 3 812, a volunteer troop of cavalry was 
formed within the bounds of the One Hundred and Fifth Pogiiiumt, 
and was officered by Captain William Duff and Lieutenant Samuel 
Brown- 



450 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

On the 31st day of March the following order was published by 
the officer of the troop : 

ATTENTION ! 

WASHINGTON VOLUNTEEE TEOOP OF CAVALRY. 

"Our muster, of course, is at Abingdon, on Saturday the 11th 

day of April, when you are to appear in uniform with your arms 

and accoutrements in good order, at 11 o'clock A. M., with six 

rounds of blank cartridges, for the purpose of exercising. 

"At a crisis like the present, when war is more than anticipated, 
we presume your patriotic spirit will not suffer a single member 
to be delinquent. 

"By order of the Captain. 

"SAMUEL BEOWN, Lieut. 
"March 31, 1812." 

The next order tliat we find in regard to this company was 
issued on September 12, 1812, and was as follows : 

"ATTENTION I" 
"THE VOLUNTEEE TEOOP OP CAVALEY, attached to 
the One Hundred and Fifth Eegiment. You are hereby requested 
to attend private muster at Abingdon, on the last Saturday in this 
month, for the purpose of exercising and for other purposes that 
the times demand. 

"SHOW YOUE VALOE— BE PATEIOTIC. 

"WM. DUFF, Captain." 

On the 25th day of April, 1812, the following advertisement 
appeared in the Political Prospect: 

"THE TOCSIN OF PATEIOTISM. 

"A MEETING of the young men of the county of Washington is 
requested at the tavern of Mr. Soule's, on Saturday, the 2d day of 
May, 1812. The object of the meeting is of the highest importance, 
and it is desired and hoped, that every young man, whose bosom 
burns with the holy fire of patriotism and feels the multiplied 
wrongs of his country, will be present at this meeting, 

"April 23, 1812." 

The young men of the county met, pursuant to this notice, and 
organized a company of infantry, and selected Peter Mayo captain, 
to which was given the name of the Light Infantry Company, and 



Washington County, 1777-18^0. 451 

poissed a resolution appointing the IGtli day of May, '1812, as the 
time and the Bell Tavern in Abingdon as the place of meeting to 
select non-commissioned officers, and directed their captain to issue 
his orders accordingly, which order was as follows: 

"INFANTRY ! 

"Pursuant to a resolution entered into on Saturday last, notice is 
hereby given, that there will be a meeting of the Light Infantry 
Company on that day two weeks, precisely at 11 o'clock, at the Bell 
Tavern in the town of Abingdon, for the purpose of choosing non- 
commissioned officers, and of making other arrangements for the 
regulation of the company. All those whose names are enrolled on 
the list of the said company are requested to attend without fail, 
as the objects of the meeting are of much importance to its pros- 
perity. Those who feel a disposition to become members of the 
company may do so by attending and enrolling themselves on that 
day. 

"P. MAYO, Captain. 

"N. B. — It is requested that all those who have guns of any 
description will bring them on that day." 

On the 15th day of June, 1812, Captain Spotswood Henry, of the 
Second Eegiment of Artillery, U. S. A., arrived in Abingdon, and 
proceeded to recruit men for the regular army, and by the 6th day 
of September, 1812, he had recruited a full company of regulars. 
The Political Prospect, in speaking of the departure of Captain 
Henry and his recruits from Abingdon, says: 

"On Sunday last Captain Spotswood Henry marched from this 
place for Philadelphia with a full company of regulars enlisted in 
Abingdon and the surrounding country. Captain Henry was not 
quite three months enlisting his men, and we venture to say no 
officer in the same period of time ever enlisted as fine a company 
of men, most of them young, active and strong, a large majority of 
them sober and men of good character. We believe it may be said 
with truth that during their stay in Abingdon their conduct (with 
a few exceptions) has been good, infinitely better than that of any 
other body of new recruits we ever saw. Captain Henr}^, though 
a new officer, seems to possess the art of being both loved and feared 
by his men. He is true tO' the cause he is engaged in, and we trust. 



452 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

should he ever be brought in contact with the enemy, he will not 
disgi-ace his country. 

"They were accompanied on their road about two miles, by almost 
every citizen of Abingdon, and after partaking of some refresh- 
ments at Captain W. Jones', they continued their march, accom- 
panied by the prayers of all who witnessed their departure, for 
their success and happiness." 

The services of the companies organized by Captains Mayo and 
Duff were not accepted by the government, and it is very probable 
that numbers of their men enlisted with Captain Henry. I can- 
not definitely ascertain what disposition was made of Captain 
Henry's troops upon their arrival at Philadelphia, but it can be 
stated with some certainty, that most of the recruits from South- 
western Virginia, in the regular army, were in tlie Second Kegi- 
ment of Artillery and the Twelfth and Twentieth Eegiments of 
Infantry, commanded by Colonels Parker and Eandolph and Gen- 
erals Smythe and Van Eensselaer. 

No further efforts were made to organize and equip additional 
troops from this county tliis year, so far as I can ascertain. 

In April of the year 1812, in the contest for member of Con- 
gress from this district and for members of the Legislature from 
this county. Honorable Daniel Sheffey was elected a member of 
Congress, defeating the Honorable Edward Campbell, of Hall's 
Bottom, by a considerable majority, Campbell's majority in Wash- 
ington county being seventeen. The vote for members of the House 
of Delegates from this county was as follows : 

Colonel Francis Preston, 3-±-± 

Captain Reuben Bradley, 314 

Captain James Meek, 2(36 

Mr. John Pulton, 151 

On the 24th day of February, 1812, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia appointed the following persons, for Washington county, to 
conduct the presidential election to be held in November of this 
year: Francis Preston, James White, David Campbell, Benja- 
min Estill, Francis Smith, John Preston and George Dixon. 

But, for some reason, the commissioners thus appointed did not 
act, as will appear from the following notice: 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 453 

To the Freehoklers of the County of Washington. 

Citizens :— You are hereby notified to attend at your court-honse, 
on the first Monday in November next; for the purpose of voting 
for twenty-five electors to CHOOSE A PEESIDENT AND 
VICE-PEESIDENT of the UNITED STATES. At this import- 
ant crisis of affairs, it is hoped that no citizen of Washington will 
show the smallest backwardness in coming forward on that day with 
a determination of supporting our Eepublican ticket. 

FRANCIS PRESTON, 
HENRY ST. JOHN DIXON, 
ROBERT PRESTON, 

Commissioners. 
September 19, 1813. 

At the election held in November, being the first hotly-contested 
presidential election in the history of our country, the counties of 
Southwestern Virginia, between James Madison and DeWitt Clin- 
ton, the contesting candidates, voted as follows : 

Madison. Clinton. 

Washington, 355 80 

Lee, 67 00 

Montgomery, 181 58 

Wythe, 129 19 

Russell, 126 00 

Giles, 60 04 

Grayson, 73 45 

Early in this year Captain Henry Dixon organized a corps 
of volunteer riflemen, which was attached to the First Battalion 
of the One Hundred and Fifth Virginia Regiment of Militia. 
Many of the young men living in the vicinity of Abingdon joined 
this corps, the lieutenant of which was George W. Dixon. 

The patriotism of the people was unbounded, and it was arranged 
to celebrate the Fourth of July, 1812, at Abingdon, in a manner in 
accord with the sentiments of the people. The citizens of the upper 
end of the county likewise celebrated the day in a manner befitting 
patriots. 

The 4th of July, 1812. 

*"This dav was celebrated by Captain Dixon's Company of Vol- 

*Political*Prospects. 



454 Southwest Virginia, 174.6-1786. 

imteer Riflemen and a number of the citizens of the town of Abinor- 
don with their accustomed conviviality and mirth. The declaration 
of war had fired the breasts of that band of citizen soldiers with an 
unusual portion of pride of country, and they consequently 
expressed with great freedom their determination to rally to the 
standard of their country in defence of its rights, liberties and laws. 

Captain Mayo's company of infantry Avere invited by the rifle- 
men to join in the entcrtairLments of the day, in which they dis- 
played an equal degTce of patriotic ardor and love of country. 

The rifle company met at the court-house at 8 o'clock in the 
morning, and, after performing several evolutions and firing a 
number of rounds, marched to Captain Dixon's quarters, and fired 
three rounds, then to the eastern extremity of the town and did the 
same, then, returning to the court-house, were dismissed until ten 
o'clock, when they again assembled, at which period they were 
joined by Captain Mayo's comi>any of infantry. After mustering 
tlirough the town and performing several evolutions and firing, 
which occu})ied until one o'clock, they were marched to the camping 
ground at Piper's Spring, whore they partook of an elegant dinner 
furnished by Mr. R. Soule. 

Colonel Francis Preston was called to the chair and Colonel 
James King chosen vice-president. 

After the cloth was removed the following toasts were drunk with 
great cordiality of sentiment. 

1st. The Day. May its celebration only cease with our national 
existence. 

2. The President. May he continue to deserve the confidence of 
a free, enlightened people. 

3d. Congress. In declaring war against Great Britain, they have 
echoed the voice of the nation. 

4th. The Heads of Departments. May the spirit of '76 animate 
their councils. 

5th. The ]\Iomory of Washington. ]\Iay we look upon his like 
again. 

Gth. The A^enerable Clinton. He will still live in the hearts of 
his countryjucn. 

7th. The Heroes of the Revolution. May their posterity inherit 
their virtue and their valor. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 455 

8th. The Union of tlie States. Liberty's surest pledge — Hail 
Columbia. 

9th. The army of the United States — Composed of freemen, it 
cannot fail to merit the glorions boon of independence. 

10th. The navy of the United States. The choicest sons of N"ep- 
time will brave every danger in defence of their liberty. 

11th. The volunteers of the times. Hailed by your countrymen 
as the gallant defenders of tlieir dearest rights. 

12th. The Heroes of Tippecanoe have set their countrymen a 
glorious example — Soldiers return. 

13th. The Militia of the United States will defend their rights 
when assailed by tyrants. 

14th. The Tree of Liberty, may its brandies ever succor its sup- 
porters. 

15th. John Eandolph, D. Sheffey, &c. May their constituents 
furnish them with a suit of Tory uniform, tar and feathers i Eogue's 
March ! 

16th. The 18th of June, 1812. The day that adds solidarity to 
the foundation of our independence. 

17th. The Impressed American Seamen. May they return to 
the bosom of their country, with their hands imbrued in the blood of 
their enemies. 

18th. The Fair Daughters of Columbia. Their smiles will reward 
their defenders. 

The volunteer toasts were very numerous, but we have been able 
to collect only a few of them. 

VOLUNTEEES. 

By Colonel Erancis Preston — God bless these United States — 
May he who attempts their disunion meet the fate of Percival. 

By Colonel James King — All hands and all hearts. 

By Captain Dixon — Our war — May it lead us to conquest and 
glory, and return us to peace and happiness. 

By Lieutenant Dixon — The Eising Company of Light Infantry 
of the One Hundred and Fifth Virginia Eegiment — May success 
attend the soldiers of this union. 

By Captain Eohert Craig — Our Government — May they be decis- 
ive in their councils, and every party spirit done away, and may the 
spirit of '76 animate every breast. 



456 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Our Manufactures — May they be perse- 
vered in iintil they make us completely iudependent of all other 
nations. 

By Mr. L. L. Henderson — The Commerce of tlie United States — 
Like an April shower, the day clouds for a moment, but to return 
with resplendent vigor. 

By Andrew Kussell, Esq. — Neutral Eights — May all governments 
be compelled tO' respect them. 

By Mr. Isaac Whitaker — Eandolph, Sltefl'ey &c. — May they 
be compelled to eat the crumbs that fall from republican tables. 

"Saturday last being the anniversary of our national independ- 
ence, a number of inhabitants of the upper end of this county col- 
lected at Seven-Mile ford for the purpose of celebrating the day 
in some manner, however plain and simple. The tore part of the 
day was occupied by Captain Hopkins in exercising his military 
students; in the evening the company retired to a spring convenient 
to the ford, where they partook of an elegant barbecue which had 
been prepared for them. After dinner the following toasts were 
given : 

By Captain William Love — The Fourth of July — May it ever be 
held in grateful remembrance by the free-born sons of America. 
Two guns. 

By Captain William Byars-^The Declaration of War by Con- 
gress on the 18th of June last, against Great Britain — May it 
progress with successive victories on our part, and may it ultimately 
])rocure us that justice for which we contend. Three guns. 

By Major William Davis — The Spirit of '76 — May it inspire the 
breast of every free-born American with such zeal as may support 
the dignity of the present measures of our general government. 
Four guns. 

By Captain Hopkins — The patriots of the United States Army — 
May they always be actuated by virtue and crowned with victyry. 
Four guns. 

By Captain George Byai'S — May the American eagle subdue the 
British lion. Four guns. 

By Mr. Parker Smith — The memory of Captain Nathan Hale, 
who fell a martyr in the cause of his country with the firm intre- 
pidity of an American and the amiable resignation of a Christian 



WasJii7iritnn Covnfij, J 7 77 -1870. 457 

hero — May his worth and memory be enshrined in the hearts of his 
countrymen as long as wo enjoy that liberty and independence for 
which he freely gave np his life. Five guns. 

By Mr. John Phaup — The Virtuous Sons of Freedom — May they 
never taste the bitter apples of afHiction. Four guns. 

By Mr. Campbell Anderson — The Federal Compact — May it 
f-tand firm and unshaken as the pillars of heaven. Two guns. 

By Mr. Pleasant Smith — The Honest Farmer — May his industry 
always be rewarded with an abundant harvest. Five guns. 

By Captain Andrew Edmiston — The tyranny of Great Britain. 
May it be completely subdued and American independence reign 
forever. Three guns. 

By John Byars, Esq. — General Montgomery — May we never want 
such men to march to the plains of Abraham, to teach the enemies 
of our free and happy country that we will not submit to the insult? 
heretofore practised on us. Five guns. 

By Mr. Eobert Beattie — The Memory of General Washington — 
May his courage and patriotism be an example to our generals of 
the present day. Four guns. 

By Mr. James Eobinson — Jamas Madison, President of Ihe 
United States. Two guns. 

By Mr. Daniel Hughes — May we all stand united and flr-mly 
agree to rally around the standard of sweet liberty. Two guns. 

By Captain James Cole — The Tree of Liberty — May it contiiLuc 
to produce unfading blossoms, and may its branches extend to the 
remotest part of our wide extended territory. Five guns. 

By Mr. A. K. Love — Thomas Jefferson — May his virtues be an 
example to his countrymen, and may his patriotic services be held 
in grateful remembrance. Four guns. 

This account of the celebration of the 4th of July by the citizens 
of "Washington county is obtained from a copy of a paper published 
in Abingdon at that time, and, if we may judge from this account, 
the sentiments of the people of the county must have been strongly 
in favor of war: and their enthusiastic devotion to their country 
imexcelled. 

John Gibfon. a citizen of Abingdon and a partner in business with 
Connally Findlay, was, on March 13, 1812, commissioned a captain 
in the regular army and was assigned to the Twelfth Regiment of 



458 Southwest Yirginia, 17Jf6--1780. 

Infantry; as a result, a dissolution of partnership between himself 
and Findlay was rendered necessary, and soon thereafter the fol- 
lowing notice appeared in the Abingdon paper : 

NOTICE ! 

*^he partnership between the two persons involved, 

<0f Gibson and Findlay, is this day dissolved ; 

HVith iiearts smooth and easy right onward we went, 

-And this day we part by mutual consent. 

■All those who have claims come to Findlay for pay. 

And those who owe us must not long delay. 

But to pay their accounts, I hope they'll agree. 
And not trouble Gibson, but pay them to me; 

The business henceforward I mean to conduct. 

And all my good customers freely instruct; 

That all sorts of saddles, neat boots and fine shoes, 

They may come and examine and buy what they choose ; 

With saddle-bags, bridles and best tanned leather. 

Which shall brave tlie hard clods and defy the bad weather ; 

And pray, gentle friends, let me tell you besides, 

I'll purchase your skins and buy all your hides. 

For which I will pay you the cash in a trice, 

For every article at market price; 

And now you may think what I say is but fun. 

You all may trust me, l)ut, faith, I'll trust none. 

"JOHN GIBSON, 
"CONNALLY FINDLAY." 

On Saturday, the 2d day of May, 1812, the settlements on the 
western extremity of this county were visited by a most tremendous 
hail-storm. Eobert Preston suffered the loss of an extensive crop 
of rye and much other damage done to his plantation. Several 
others in the same neighborhood suffered severely. On the Jones- 
borough road, was the greatest loss suffered, though Joseph Gray 
and others were severely handled. Large trees were torn up by the 
roots and fences destroyed in all directions. Some of the largest 
of the hail tliat fell on Saturday was gathered on Sunday and 
carried to Abingdon, where it was still as large as the largest nut- 
meg. 



Washinyton auuiiiij, 1777-1870. 459 

The track of this cyclone and hail-storm was perceptible as latC 
as the year 1882. 

This county was again visited by very severe hail-storms in the 
year 1814. 

The American army, stationed near Buffalo, experienced some 
pretty hard fighting about this time, and the soldiers from tliis 
county bravely maintained the reputation of our people. In the 
month of October, they had a skirmish near Fort Erie, an account 
of which is given by Major David Campbell, in a letter written to 
a friend in Abingdon, and is as follows : 

"We last night took two vessels from the British, when they 
were at anchor immediately under the guns of Fort Erie. The 
vessels were taken by volunteers from our brigade and some sailors 
in two row-boats, and 150 men. Our men rowed alongside, fas- 
tened their boats to the ship under fire from her, they alsoi firing, 
and boarded her sword in hand — we have lost eight men — the 
British number not known, it is supposed, however, 50 to 40. One 
of the vessels was immediately brought safe to shore. Her cargo-has 
been taken out, and is estimated by General Smyth at $150,000. 
The other they ran aground in the river near a small islaiid — sh6 
is the Brig. Adam, laden with 2,000 stand ol arms taken frOm JEull, 
and the cannon taken there also. This morning early a messenger 
came to camp and informed General Smythj that 2,000 British had 
landed. We immediately paraded and marched to the scene. The 
cannon was roaring from both shores. When we got there we found 
no enemy on this side. They had been at the vessel nigh the island, 
but had left her. We left the Fifth and part of the Eighteenth 
regiments to protect the vessel and returned. They have made two 
other attempts during the day to retake the vessel, and have been 
completely repulsed wath great loss. We have not, since morning, 
lost a man. It has given me great pleasure tO' retake the arms 
taken at Detroit. We have also retaken thirty or forty prisoners, 
our brave countrymen taken there." 

Among the plunder captured by the American forces at this time, 
was a bell, from one of the British vessels, which bell was brought by 
General Smyth to his home in Wytheville, and by him given to 
Wythe count}^ to be used as a court-house bell. This bell is nt this 



460 South icest Virginia, 17 46- J 786. 

day in the old court-house at Wytheville, in an excellent state of 
preservation, and bears the following inscription : 

"De Welfahrt van Het. Schip. 
De I. Iffrauw. Elisabeth- 

Voor De Heeren- 

Casper, Voice & Compagni- 

Captain Daniel Joachim. Eahlap 

Anno 1781. 

Me-Ioh : iven-in Hamburg." 

Which being translated, is: 

"The welfare of the ship. 
The Lady Elisabeth. 

For the Sirs. 

Casper, Voice & Co. 

Captain Daniel Joachim Eahlap. 

Anno 1781. 

*Me' loh' iven' in Hamburg." 

'On the 10th of October, 1812, the volunteer rifle company, com- 
manded by Captain Henry Dixon, was ordered to assemble at Cap- 
tain Eobert Davis's, which order was as follows : 

"ATTENTION ! 
"The volunteer rifle corps attached to the First Battalion, One 
Hundred and Fifth Virginia Eegiment, are directed to attend the 
regimental muster at Captain E. Davis's on Friday, 16th instant:^ 
(completely armed and equipped) at 11 o'clock A. M. Each mem- 
ber will furnish himself with ammunition and one day's rations. 

"GEOEGE W. DIXON, Lieut. 
"Comdt V. E. C. 105th regt." 

At this meeting, the following order was published : 
"COMPANY OEDEES ! ATTENTION EIFLEMEN ! 

"The Battalion Court of Inquiry for the assessment of fines in the 
First Battalion of the One Hundred and Fifth Virginia Eegiment, 
is ordered to meet at Mr. James Crow's on Friday the 23d instant. 
The regimental court will assembly at Captain Eobert Davis's on 
the 5th day of November next, at which times and places, excuses to 
offer for delinquencies, may attend. A correct list of all the delin- 



Washington County, 1177-1870. -161 

quents in the Eifle Corps will be left with the printer of the Political 
Prospect^ for the inspection of its members. 

"G. W. DIXON. 
"Comdt. V. K. C. 1st Bat. 105th E. 
"October 17, 1812." 

And on the 28th day of February, 1813, Captain Dixon issued the 
following order: 

^ OLUNTEEE EIFLEMEN. 

The members of the Volunteer Eifle Company of the One Hun- 
dred and Fifth Eegiment will punctually attend at the court-house 
in Abingdon, on Saturday the 6th day of March, without uniform, 
on business of importance. 

H. DIXON", Captain. 

This company of riflemen were not called into service until the 
summer or fall of 1814. 

On the 20th of April, 1813, Lieutenant Peter C. Johnston, of the 
regular army began recruiting in the town of Abingdon, but what 
success attended his efforts I am unable to ascertain. 

Captain L. L. Henderson had organized a company of artillery in 
the upper end of Washington county, and an order was issued effect- 
ing this company on May 3, 1813, which order was as follows : 

"ATTENTION ! 

"The members of the artillery company commanded by Captain 
L. L. Henderson will attend a battalion muster at Mr. James Crow's 
on Friday, the 38th of this month. 

"WILLIAM SMITH, 
"Lieutenant of Artillery." 

This company was not mustered into service until the year 1814. 

On the 12th of March, 1813, Major David Campbell was pro- 
moted and became Lieutenant- Colonel of the Twentieth Eegiment 
United States army, and participated in the arduous campaigns 
on the St. Lawrence and near Lake Champlain, which position 
he resigned on the 28th of January, 1814. 

Upon his return to his home in Virginia, he again entered the 
service of his State, as aide de camp to Governor James Barbour, 
and rendered valuable assistance in organizing the large force of 



462 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

troops called into service in the neighborlio-od of Richmond and 
Petersburg, in the summer of 1814. 

The General Assembly at its session in the year 1814, provided for 
the raising of ten thousand troops, and, under this law. Colonel 
Campbell was elected general of the Third Brigade. 

On. the 25th of January, 1815, he was appointed colonel of the 
Third Virginia Cavalry, but was afterwards transferred to the Fifth 
Regiment of Cavalry. 

Under the law enacted by the General Assembly in 1814, most 
of the companies from Washington county proceeded to Riclunond, 
which point they reached about the 9th day of September, when 
information reached Richmond that the enemy had landed on the 
Northern Neck. The forces from Washington county formed a 
part of the Third Brigade, and upon receipt of the news that the 
enemy had landed, three companies of riflemen and one troop of 
cavalry, under the command of Colonel Coleman, were ordered to 
the JSTorthem Neck. 

This force marched to the place directed and were out sixteen 
days. They marched day and night to attack the enemy, but failed 
to overtake them. They frequently encamped on the same ground a 
few hours after the enemy had marched. Upon this expedition, the 
first encampment was one mile from Richmond, at Camp Mitchell. 

About this time the militia was transferred from the State's ser- 
vice to the service of the Uinited States, to serve six months. A por- 
tion of the Washington county militia marched for the city of 
Washington a few days after Colonel Coleman marched for the 
"Northern Neck, and, upon the return of Coleman's forces to Fort 
Mitchell, the field and stafi: officers of his command were ordered to 
Washington city. The troop of cavalry and riflemen were ordered to 
Cliarles City courthouse, from which point they passed to Camp 
Snowden near Snowden's Iron Works, Maryland, at which place 
the troops were newly equipped with guns and ammunition, from 
which point they marched to Camp Cross-Roads, Maryland, where 
they were encamped on the 15th of November. At this point our 
forces were commanded by General James Breckenridge as briga- 
dier, and Major-General Pegram. The health of the Washington 
companies was fairly good, although 109 men were sick on the morn- 
ing of the 14th of November, 1814. A very few of the number were 
dangerously sick. 



J Washington County, 1777-1870. 463 

A number of the Washington county troops, in the fall of this 
year and the spring of 1815, marched to Norfolk, under the com- 
mand of General Francis Preston and other militia officers, but as to 
their services I cannot obtain any information. 

It is lamentable that no record has been preserved of the services 
of our countrymen upon this expedition to Norfolk. 

We publish in the appendix to this book, an official statement 
of the militia officers of Washington county, for the years 1810- 
1815; which gives, beyond queston, authentic information of the 
officers, with their rank, during this war. 

Peace was proclaimed by the President of the United States on 
the 18th day of February, 1815, one month and ten days subsequent 
to the battle of New Orleans. 

With the exception of the battle of New Orleans, the record of 
this war, as far as it effected the land fighting, is humiliating indeed, 
to the average American citizen. 

The failure of our military expeditions during this war must not 
be attributed to the want of patriotism or valor on the part of our 
people, but was due to the ideas of our rulers, none of whom, either 
by principle or practice, was fitted to conduct a successful war. 

In this war Colonel James Campbell died in the service at Mobile, 
Alabama, and Colonel John B. Campbell fell at the battle of Chip- 
pewa, where he commanded the right wing of the army under Gen- 
eral Winfield Scott. Both were sons of Colonel Arthur Campbell, 
the "Father of our County." Colonel Arthur Campbell himself died 
at Ids home, the present location of Middlesborough, Kentucky, in 
the year 1811, and his body was buried at that place according to 
the directions of his will, which is of record in the county clerk's 
office of this county. 

When Middlesborough, Kentucky, first attracted the attention of 
the business people of this country, and great developments were in 
progress at that point, the grave of Colonel Campbell was discovered 
in an out-of-the-way place, and his remains were removed by his 
Tennessee relatives, and the grave newly marked. 

The grave of Colonel Arthur Campbell was marked with an iron 
slab, upon which the following inscription was found : 

"Sacred to the memory of Colonel Arthur Campbell, who was 
bom in Augusta county, Virginia, November 3, 1743, old style, and 
after a well-spent life, as his last moments did and well could 



4G4 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

approve, of sixty-seven years eight months and twenty-five days, 
ere a constitution preserved by rigid temperance, and otherwise 
moral and healthy, could but with reluctance consent, the lamp was 
blown out by the devouring effects of a cancer on the 8th day of 
August, 1811, leaving a widow, six sons and six daughters to mourn 
his loss and emulate his virtues. 

Here lies entombed a Eevolutionary sage, 

An ardent patriot of the age. 

In erudition great, and useful knowledge to scan 

In philanthrophy hospitable, the friend of man. 

As a soldier brave. 

Virtue his morality. 

As a commander prudent. 

His religion charity. 

He practised temperance 

To preserve his health. 

He used industry to acquire wealth. 

He studied physic to avoid disease. 

He studied address to please. 

He studied himself to complete his plan. 

For his greatest study was to study man. 

His statue tall, % 

His person portly. 

His features handsome. 

His manners courtly. 

Sleep, honored sire. 

In the realms of rest. 

In doing justice to thy memory 

A son is blest. 

A son inheriting in full thy name 

One who aspires to all thy fame. 

COLONEL AETHUR CAMPBELL." 

At a meeting of the General Assembly in the fall of the year 1814, 
a new county was formed from the territory of Lee, Washington 
and Russell counties, to which was given the name of Scott 
county, in honor of General Winfield Scott. The boundaries 
of the new coimty as fixed by the Act of Assembly, of date 
November 24, 1814, were as follows: Beginning at the head of 



Washington County, 1777-1810. 465 

Eeedy creek, where the wagon road crosses the same in Washington 
county; thence down the Tennessee line to the south fork of the 
Clinch river ; thence nortliward passing the Flag Pond to the top of 
Powell's mountain, in Lee county; thence along it to the Eussell 
county line; thence along the Russell county line to the Kentucky 
line; thence along Cumberland mountain to the head of Guesses' 
river; thence down it to Clinch river; thence to Kendrick's Gap, 
in Clinch mountain; thence by the western end of Samuel Hen- 
sley's plantation to the beginning. 

The boundaries of Scott county as thus given were altered at the 
same session of the General Assembly. 

By the same Act, Jolm McKenney, Eeuben McCully and James 
Wallen, of Lee; Jonathan Wood, Samuel Eitchie and James Moss 
of Eussell; Andrew McHenry, Jacob Severs and Abraham Fulker- 
son,'ol Vvashinglon county, were appointed commissioners to .iilect 
a permanent jocaiion for the county seat of Scott county. 

The first County Court of Scott county assembled at the house 
of Fienjamin T. Hollans, at Big Moccasin Gap, and organized with 
the following oflBcers: 

Justices of the Peace. 
John Anderson, William George, 

Samuel Eitchie, Eeuben McCully, 

James Gibson, James Albert, 

John McKenney, John Berry, 

John Montgomery, James Moss, 

Jacob Severs, Eichard Fulkerson, 

Benj. T. Hollans, Isaac Skillem, 

James Wallen. 
Sheriff, John Anderson. 

Deputy Sheriffs, Isaac Anderson and Isaac Skillem. 
Clerk, William H. Carter. 
Deputy Clerk, Alfred McKenney. 
County Surveyor, Jonathan Wood. 
Commonwealth's Attorney, Andrew McHenry. 

, County Militia. 
County Lieutenant, Henry Livingston. 
Lieutenant-Colonel, John "Wood. 
Majors, Eobert Gibson and Isaac Anderson. 



466 Southwest Virginia, 1U6-1786. 

Captains of Militia. 

IJichard Fulkerson, George George, 

•' John McHenry, Hiram Kilgore, 

William Fugate, John Berry, 

Cornelius Fugate, James Watson, 

Lieutenants of Militia. 

Jonas Wolfe, Eobert Spear, 

Goldman Davidson, Elijah Carter, 

AVood Osborn, Isaac Low, 

Jeremiah Culbertson. 

Ensigns of Militia. 

John Martin, Daniel Wallen, 

Clinton Godsey, James Gibson, Jr., 

Meshack Stacy, George McConnell, 

William Bickley. 

The commissioners appointed to ascertain the proper place 
for holding the courts and erecting the public buildings for the 
new county made their report on May 9, 1815. The lands donated 
by James Davidson, Sr., the present site of Estillville, or Gate City, 
were selected, and the public buildings erected thereon; and tliis is 
still the county seat of Scott county. 

By this Act Washington county lost a considerable extent of val- 
uable territory and many valuable citizens. 

In the year 181 G, a convention assembled at Staunton, for the 
purpose of devising measvires for obtaining a Constitutional Con- 
vention for the State. Thirty-iive counties west of the Blue Ridge 
were represented in this convention, but if Washington county had 
a representative present, I cannot ascertain his name ; but the object 
of the convention affected Washington county as much as any of 
the territory west of the mountain. 

The object in view in amending the Constitution of the State was 
to correct the inequalities in the representation of the different sec- 
tions of the State in the General Assembly of Virginia. 

This convention, by a vote of 61 to 7, adopted a memorial in 
favor of a convention to amend the Constitution. 

The country west of the Blue Ridge at that time contained a 
white population of two hundred and twelve tliousand and thirty-six, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 467 

with four senators; while the territory east of the mountain con- 
tained a white population of one hundred and sixty-two thousand 
seven hundred and seventeen and had thirteen senators. 

General James Breckenridge was elected president of this conven- 
tion and Erasmus Stribbling, secretary. This subject has been agi- 
tated in Virginia from the earliest time, but the people of western 
Virginia have never succeeded in obtaining a fair representation 
in the General Assembly of Virginia, and, to-day, the inequality of 
representation between the two sections is greater than it has been 
at any time heretofore in our history; considering the wealth and 
population of Western Virginia. 

In the election of members to the General Assembly from Wash- 
ington county, in the spring of the year 1819, the certificates of 
election a\ ere awarded to Peter Mayo and William Poston. The elec- 
tion was contested by William Preston Thompson. The depositions 
were taken by Thomas Edmondson, William Snodgrass, Eeuben 
Bradley, John Goodson and Charles Tate, commissioners appointed 
by the County Court of Washington county for that purpose, and 
upon the final hearing of the case in the General Assembly, Mayo 
was unseated and Thompson awarded the certificate, but in the fol- 
lowing year Peter Mayo and Nathaniel Dryden defeated Thompson 
by a good majority. 

On the first day of July, 1819, the Coimty Court of Washington 
county tried a negro by the name of Sam for larceny, foimd him 
guilty and ordered him to be burnt in the hand in the presence of 
the court, and that he receive ten lashes on his bare back at the 
public whipping-post. 

By Act of the General Assembly of Virginia approved March 10, 
1819, a voting precinct was established at the house of James Meek, 
on the north side of the middle fork of the Holston river in the 
upper end of this county. From the organization of the county 
until this time, every voter in the county was required tO' attend the 
election at Abingdon, the only voting precinct in the county. 

In the month of May, 1819, John Preston, Jr., was commissioned 
colonel of the One Hundred and Fifth Piegiment of infantry, and 
James White, lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment. William P. 
Thompson was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Seventieth 
Regiment, while David Campbell was commissioned colonel of the 
Third Regiment of cavalry of the militia of Virginia, and in the 



468 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6~1786. 

following year Robert Beattie was commissioned major of the Sev- 
entieth Eegiment. 

The number of tithables in Washington county in 1820 was 3,137, 
and the proportion of the tax due from each tithable was fifty cents. 
The taxes collected from the people in the years 1819-1820 so far 
exceeded the expenditures of the county that no taxes were levied 
for the year 1821. 

On the 15th of May, 1821, the County Court of Washington 
co'unty entered the following order in regard to the width of the 
roads of the county. 

"Ordered that the public roads of this county be of the following 
widths, to-wit: The main Island road, the main Kentucky road, 
the Wataga road below Abingdon, the Blountville road, the Russell 
road by Michael Fleenor's, the main Saltworks road from Abingdon, 
the River road above the Saltworks, through Lyon's Gap, remain as 
at present established, thirty-three feet wide each, and that all the 
other public wagon roads in this county be twenty feet wide." 

By order of the county court of date June 22, 1820, a new road 
was ordered to be established, leading from near Smith's cabin (now 
Greendale), to the north fork of Holston, said road to be eight 
feet wide and to be located at or near the "Lawyer's Path."* 

Colonel James White at this time was operating several iron fur- 
naces in this county and in Johnson county, Tennessee. A consid- 
erable forge known as "White's Grove Forge," and a furnace known 
as "Elizabeth Furnace," had been established on the north fork of 
the Holston river, some miles apart, and business among the citizens 
of the county was excellent, and had been so since 1815. 
' It is to be regretted, tliat the minute books of the County Court 
of Washington county covering the period from 1821 to 1837 were 
destroyed in 1864. For this period I have been able to gather but 
few facts of historical importance, and such as I have gathered are 
principally from the Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia. 

By Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, of date January 15, 
1823, Henry Bowen, John Smith and John Cecil were appointed 
commissioners to locate and open a wagon road from the Kentucky 
line on the north fork of Sandy river to the Richlands in Tazewell 
county. 



*The early name of the road from Abinerdon leading through Little 
Moccasin Gap. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 469 

In 1823 a dispute arose as to the correct location of the boundary 
line between Washington and Eussell counties from Hayter's Gap, 
east to the Tazewell line, and tlie General Assembly on the 28th 
day of February, 1824, authorized the county courts of Washington 
and Eussell counties to appoint one commissioner each, to run and 
mark the line between the two counties, but, for some reason which 
I cannot now ascertain, the boimdary line was not run. 

On the 26th day of January, 1825, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia appointed John H. Fulton, of Washington county, and George 
W. Johnson, of Eussell county, commissioners to run and mark the 
line between the counties, beginning on the top of Clinch moun- 
tain, where the road from Abingdon to Lebanon crosses the same at 
Hayter's Gap, and from thence east to the Tazewell line. Pursuant 
to this order, the line was run and marked in the same year. 

By an Act of the General Assembly of Virginia of date, January 
4. 1826, it was declared that all that part of the counties of Wash- 
ington and Wythe known by the name of Poor A^alley within the 
following bounds, to-wit: 

Beginning on the top of Clinch mountain at the highest point 
opposite to the plantation of Major John Ward ; thence a south 
course until it strikes the top of Little Piney mountain in the 
county of Washington, and with the top of said mountain, running 
east to Wilson's Gap, in the county of W^ythe, thence north to the 
Tazewell line, shall be a part of the county of Tazewell. 

By an Act of the General Assembly the third election precinct in 
this county was established at the house of John Shaver, at Three 
Springs, in the lower end of this county, on January 2, 1829. 

By the year 1828, the sentiment of the people of Washington 
county was decidedly democratic ; and to such an extent that in the 
presidential election of that year. General Andrew Jackson received 
every vote cast in the county, except thirteen. 

By the beginning of the year 1830, a healthy disposition 
had grown up among the people in favor of public improve- 
ments, and the General Assembly of Virginia, on the 19t]i day of 
February, 1830, incorporated the Abingdon Turnpike Company and 
authorized the building of a turnpike road from the forks of the 
road west of William Carpenter's to the forks in Abram Bradley's 
lane. This company was authorized to receive subscriptions, and 
the Act of the Assembly authorized and directed the following citi- 



470 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

zens to solicit and receive subscriptions to this enterprise at tlic 
town of Abingdon: James White, David Campbell, Francis Pres- 
ton, John M. Preston, John H. Fulton, Charles C. Johnston, Petri- 
J. Branch, Benjamin Estill, John N. Humes, John Gibson, Andrew 
Russell and Abram Bradley. 

While I have no evidence of the fact, it is reasonable to belicM 
that this effort to build a turnpike road in Washington county "\v;is 
successful. 

The General Assembly of Virginia, on April 5, 1830, incorporated 
the Ljmchburg and New Eiver Railroad, the object of which was lo 
connect Southwestern Virginia with the eastern portion of the State. 
The Act of the Assembly incorporating the road authorized public 
subscriptions to the enterprise and appointed the following commis- 
sioners to solicit and receive subscriptions at Abingdon: Francis 
Preston, Francis Smith, James White, James Campbell, Benjamin 
Estill, John H. Fulton, John M. Preston, John C. Greenway, 
Charles C. Johnston, Andrew Russell aud Charles H. Preston. 

This effort to build a railroad was, so far as Southwestei-u \'ir- 
ginia was concerned, a failure. 

From the date of the convention that assembled at Staunton in 
181G to this time, the demand for a convention to revise the Con- 
stitution had constantly grown throughout the State. The citizeus 
of Virginia living west of the mountains were opposed to the basis 
established for the exercise of suffrage by the Convention in 1776, 
which excluded all persons from voting who were not free-holders. 
Another question that presented itself was whether the representa- 
tion in the General Assembly should be apportioned on the basis ol 
the white population, or on the basis of population and property 
combined. Tlie citizens of Eastern Virginia favored a restricted 
suffrage and an apportionment on the basis of po]mlation and 
property, while the people west of the mountains favored an un- 
restricted suffrage and an apportionment on the basis of popula- 
tion alone. From the year 1816 to 1829 these questions were dis- 
cussed throughout the State with vehemence, ability and eloquence, i 
The General Assembly, on the 31st day of January, 1828, submit^ 
ted to the voters of the State the question of calling a convention, 
and in the election that followed 21,896 votes were polled for, and 
10,637 against, calling a convention. The convention was accoul-' 



Washington Countij, 1777-1870. 471 

ingly called, and most hotly contested elections for delegates to this 
convention took place throughout the State. 

As a result of the issues involved, this convention was composed of 
many of the most hrilliant gentlemen throughout the State. It has 
been said that it is doubtful whether any representative body ever 
convened in the world's history, before or since, which included so 
much talent, eloquence, experience and intellectual power, as did the 
convention of 1829-1830. In the election of delegates to this con- 
vention the State was divided into districts, of which, Washington, 
Lee, Scott, Eussell and Tazewell composed one district. 

The delegates elected from this district were John B. George, of 
Tazew'jll; Andrew' McMillan, of Lee, and Edward Campbell and 
William Byars, from Washington. The convention assembled on 
October 5, 1829, and remained in session until January, 1830, and 
was presided over by James Monroe and Pliilip P. Barbour. 

On the 14th of January the draft of the Constitution was adopted 
by the convention and submitted to the people of the Commonwealth 
for ratification or rejection. 

The vote of the counties of Southwest Virginia upon the ratifi- 
cation or rejection of this Constitution was as follows : 

For. Against. 

(Jiles, 21 55G 

Grayson, 70 649 

Lee, 330 99 

Montgomery, 194 670 

Eussell, ./. 86 240 

Scott, 155 • 297 

Tazewell, 35 423 

Wythe, 41 625 

Washington 556 175 

The Constitution of 1829-'30 extejided the right of suffrage to a 
considerable extent, but the basis of repi-esentation, which was bit- 
terly contested in the convention, was but slightly altered, and a 
great majority of the citizens of Western. Virginia were opposed 
to the new Constitution for that reason. 

The Constitution was adopted by the people of the State by a 
vote of 26,055 for ratification to 15,563 for rejection — a majority 
of 10,492 in favor of the Constitution. Thus the people of West- 



472 Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 

ern Virginia were denied an equal representation with the citi- 
zens of Eastern Virginia in the representative bodies of tlie Com- 
monwealth. 

By Act of the General Assembly of Virginia approved Febrii- 
ary 2d, 1838^ a new county was formed from the counties of Wythe 
and Washing-ton, to which was given the name of Smyth county. 
The boundaries of the new county were as follows: Beginning on 
the Main Stage road at a bridge in a hollow at the point where the 
spring branch of Philip Greever, deceased, crosses the same; thence 
a direct line passing equi-distant between Preston & King's salt 
wells, to the line of Eussell county, and from said point on Main 
Stage road aforesaid, where said spring branch crosses the san)e, 
running south 25 degrees east to the southern boundary of Wash- 
ington county, and beginning on the Main Stage road leading by 
Abingdon and Wythe courthouses, ten miles by said road, from 
the line dividing Washington and Wythe counties, running thence 
northwest to the northern boundary of W^ythe county, and south- 
east to the southern boundary of Wythe county, the said line 
through Wythe county running precisely parallel with the line 
aforesaid through Washington county. 

The Act establishing this county directed Isaac J. Leftwich, of 
Wythe, Edward Fulton, of Washington, and John Campbell, of 
Smyth, to run and mark the boundary line of said county. 

The Act of Assembly establishing Smyth county directed that 
the county court of that county be composed of fifteen justices to 
be commissioned by the Governor, and directed the first court of 
the county to meet at the house of John Thomas on the first Mon- 
day in April, 1832. 

By this same Act Charles L. Crockett, of Wythe; John H. Ful- 
ton, of Washington ; William Price, of Eussell ; Samuel McCamant, 
of Grayson, and Thomas Peery, of Tazewell, were appointed com- 
missioners to select a jiermanent location for the county seat of 
said county upon which to erect the necessary public buildings. 

This committee selected the present location of Marion as the 
county seat of the county. 

The first county court of Smyth county assembled at the hO'Use 
of John Thomas, at the Eoyal Oak, on Monday, the 2d day of 
April, 1832, pursuant to the Act of the General Assembly of Vir- 



Washington Couniy, 1777-J870. 473 

ginia, at which time the following oflScers took the oath prescribed 
by Jaw and entered upon the discharge of their duties : 

Justices of the Peace. 

Charles Tate, James Ta3'lor, 

Samuel Williams, George W. Davis, 

Hatch D. Poston, Joseph Adkins, 

Henry B. Thompson, William Porter, 

Thompson Adkins, Robert Houston, 

Joseph P. Bonham, Abraham B. Trigg, 
Isaac Spratt. 

Clerk of the County Court, Robert Beattie. 

Deputy Clerk, James F. Pendleton. 

Sheriff, Charles Tate. 

Commonwealth's Attorney, Charles E. Harrison. 

County Surveyor, Charles Taylor. 

Coroner, George Byars. 

The following lawyers qualified to practise their profession on 
the first day of the court : John H. Fulton, David McComas, John 
Foster, Isaac J. Leftwich, Charles E. Harrison and Andrew S. 
Fulton. 

B}'- the formation of this county a large portion of the most val- 
uable lands included in the original bounds of Washington county 
were lost to the county, and the representation of the county in tlie 
General Assembly was reduced to one member, and the county of 
Washington did not send more than one member of the Legislature 
to the General Assembly again imtil 1852. 

This is the last instance that we will have to i-eonrd of the imiti- 
lation of the territory of Washington county, although considerable 
efforts have been made within the last fifteen years to form a new 
county out of parts of Washington, Russell and Scott counties. 

The representatives from Washington county in the General 
Assembly of Virginia, at the date of the formation of Smyth county, 
were John H. Fulton in the Senate, and John Kellar and Thomas 
McCulloch in the House of Delegates. 

Smyth county was named in honor of General Alexander Smyth, 
who served as brigadier-general in the war of 1812, and represented 



474 Southivest Virginia, nJ^G-llSG. 

this district in the Congress of the United States for twelve years, 
and died while a member of Congress in the year 1830. 

A dispute arose as to the correct location of the boundary line 
between Washington and Smyth counties in the year 1896, where- 
upon the County Court of Washington county appointed W. B. 
Eobertson, J. G. Breckenridge, James Broady, William Galliher and 
John D. Blackwell, commissioners on the part of Washington 
county, and the County Court of Smyth coimty appointed C. D. 
Carter, A. F. St. John, T. W. Buchanan and W. N. McGee, as com- 
missioners on the part of Smyth county tO' run said line from 
Greever's Bridge near Chilhowie to the Eussell county line. 

The commissioners ran said line and filed their report on June 
27, 1896. The line as fixed by the report of the commissioners was 
marked by a planted stone at Greever's Bridge, and ran from that 
point, N". 37 degrees 15 minutes W. to' Jamison's Gap, where a sec- 
ond stone was planted, and said line was continued on the same 
degree to the Eussell county line, and stones were planted on the 
farm of Vint Thomas, at the Eich Valley road, on Chestnut Eidge, 
at Saltville between the salt wells, on both sides of the Holston 
river, on Little mountain, and in Poor Valley to mark said line.* 

. In the election held in the year 1831 for a representative in the 
Congress of the United States, from the Twenty-second Congres- 
sional District of Virginia, composed of the counties of Scott., 
Wythe, Lee, Tazewell, Grayson and Washington, the Honorable 
Joseph Draper, of the county of Wythe, and the Honorable 
Charles C. Johnson, of the county of Washington, were the oppasing 
candidates. 

Mr. Draper had been elected to fill the unexpired term of General 
Alexander Smyth, in the year 1830. Charles C. Johnson was 
one of the most talented and brilliant men that Washington county 
had ever produced. 

The canvass was one of the most exciting ever held in this district, 
and the result was a majority of seventy-eight votes in favor of 
Johnson, upon the face of the returns. The vote in the several 
counties of the district was as follows : 



*M. B. !^l. pafje 11-13, County Court Washington county. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 475 

Johnson. Draper. 
Eussell county, 347 347 

Scott county, 495 115 

Wythe county, 43 786 

Lee county, 342 265 

Tazewell county, 208 393 

Grayson county, 44 750 • 

Washington county, 1,270 116 

Totals, 2,749 2,671 

Johnson's majority, 78. 

Mr. Draper was not satisfied with the result and contested the 
election of Johnson, charging many irregularities, the principal 
irregularity being the fact that the Sheriff of Washington county 
lield the election in said county for four days instead of closing the 
poll on the third day, as required by law, thereby giving to Johnson 
eighty-eight votes more than he was entitled to, that being the num- 
ber of electors voting in Washington county on the fourth day of the 
election. 

Mr. Johnson on the other hand charged and proved many irregu- 
larities in Wythe county, the result being that a majority of the 
Committee on Elections on the 13th of April, 1832, made a report 
recommending that, in justice to the electors of the district, the 
seat be declared vacant and a new election ordered, while the minor- 
ity of the committee reported in favor of Charles C. Johnson, the 
sitting member. The vote was taken upon the majority and minor- 
ity reports and the Congress of the United States, by a vote of 
eighty-five to thirty-five, declared Charles C. Johnson entitled to the 
seat. 

In the fall of the year, 1832, Charles C. Johnson was drowned 
in the Potomac river while crossing from Alexandria to Washington 
city. An election was held to fill the vacancy, at which election 
Joseph Draper was returned the representative from this district 
in the Congress of the United States. 

General Jackson, upon his inauguration as President of the 
United States, nominated Colonel John Campbell, of Hall's Bottom, 
in this county, as Treasurer of the United States, which position 
Colonel Campbell accepted, and discharged the duties of the sa,n\e 



476 Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 

with honor to himself and credit to his native county. Colonel John 
Campbell was the second native-born citizen of Washington county 
to occupy a position of great honor in the government of the Unitofl 
States, the other. General John Armstrong, Secretary of War in the 
Cabinet of President Madison, was born in the town of Abingdon. 
The County Court of Washington county, in the year 1832, was 
composed of a very distinguished body of men, the fathers and 
grandfathers of many of the present generation, and it may be of 
interest to many persons to know the appearance and character of 
the members of that court, given by a writer who was personally 
acquainted with each of them and who was a very competent judge 
of men. In speaking of the members of this court the writer says :* 
One of nature's noblemen is presiding. He is of large stature, has 
a full suit of white hair, of florid complexion, and possesses a fine, 
clear and somewhat musical voice. His man- 
ners are easy and refined, and you will pro- 
nounce him the very soul of dignity. That 
is Colonel John Preston. See him as lie 
grasps the arm of the old justice's seat. Does 
a lawyer quibble or travel from the record to 
juake out his case? He mildly recalls him 
from his wanderings, as he remarks : "You 
must confine yourself, sir, to the law and to 
the testimony in the case." 
Colonel John Preston, of ^^^ar by are two brothers, of large stature, 
Walnut Grove. of Eonian fomis, gray heads and mild de- 
meanor. Their judgments are well balanced, and their oj)ininns 
are worthy of the highest respect. Those are Major Abram and 
Thomas Fulkerson. 

The venerable James Keys, Esq., you observe, is very feeble and 
but seldom is on the bench; he is sent for frequently, however, to 
sign important proceedings of the court. 

On the right of the chair is sitting a low, corpulent gentleman 
with full round features, thin hair, a little bald, and his gold 
spectacles thrown back on his head. His utterances are ready and 
clear, springing from a mind quick in its preceptions of right. That 
is Captain Francis Smith. 




<^Rev. L. F. Cosby. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



477 




Colonel Jainos White, 

of Ahiimdon. 



That gentleman near liim, of largo frame, of Atlas-like propor- 
tions — as though he could bear up a whole community on his should- 
ei's, is Colonel James White. He is somewhat 
silent and meditative at times, but delivers 
his o])ini()iis {oflen presiding) with foi'co and 
iti(lepcnd('ii(-e. 11 is hair is also gray and in- 
clined to curl over his broad forehead. 

Xext you siH' a gcnileman, once tall bid now 
bent with age — head quite white and face 
ruddy. He speaks mildly and seems to regret 
that the stern arldtrament of law is necessary 
to compel to do right towards their fellow- 
creatures. 'I'hat is General Francis Preston. 

That justice on the right, very tall and very erect, of excellent 
form, sandy hair, red face, and oi fine mind, is William llhea, Esq. 

The next is a large gentleman with round, full head and face, 
hair black, with a mixture of gray. That is Jonathan King, Esq. 
He is quite unobtrusive, but firm and decided in his opinions. 

That mild-looking gentleman to the left, well set, of medium 
height and good judgment, is Peter Minnick, Sr., Esq. 

Next to him is quite a tall, strongly-built gentleman; that is 
Joseph Miller, Esq. 

That tall and slender, light complexioned justice, sitting near, 
is William Shaw Logan, Esq. 

Among the group of justices on the loft, you see two brothers of 
largo stature and strong features. They are of peculiar mould and 
utterly disregard the vain blandishments of the world, and deal 
only in realities. These are Major Abram and Captain Reuben 
Bradley. 

That very tall, square-shouldered gentleman, sitting near Col- 
onel Preston, with elongated features, and smiling as he speaks 
earnestly, is Tobias Smith, Esq. He loves his position, and renders 
his gratuitous services freely for the good of his country, and no 
man has served it more faithfully than ho. 

Near by is sitting Eobert E. Low^y, Esq. He has a very mild 
countenance, his eyes resting in repo&e. He exhibits great good 
nature, and is very modest in expressing his opinions. 

Near him is a short gentleman with round feaiuro?, and (d' rather 
retiring demeanor. That is Lewis Smith, Esq. 



478 Southwest Virginia, 17JiG-1786. 

Next is a man of great solid worth, of mediiinii height, of 
sterling integrity, of oxeelleiii iiiiiid and lieart. That is William 
Buchanan, Esq. 

Two other justices you discoNci' on tlie right of the chair. Tliey 
are brothers and al)ove ihe ui'dinary heiglit. The first, Kohert K. 
Cummings, Esq., has i-oiind features, is well proportioned, shoulders 
droop a ]itth\ The oilier, -lames CHimmings, Esq., is slendci', of 
good form, and generous bearing. Indeed they possess fine qualities 
of mind and heart, and kindness is stamped upon their very natures ; 
they are very deliberate and express their opinions cautiously. 

Next to the justices just named, there sits another remarkable 
man, of commanding personal appearance. The flash of his dark 
eye, his compressed but somewhat protruding lips, indicate great 
firmness and determination of character. He speaks but seldom ; 
when necessary, however, he utters his opinions witli great force and 
indeptaidcnce. That is John M. Preston, Esq. He hates a mean- 
ness in any one as he does his Satanic Majest}', and is firm in meting 
out strict justice to all men. Integrity is one of his cardinal virtues. 

There on tlie right you see sitting near one another Colonel John 
Kellar, Major Henry B. Thompson and Colonel Thomas McCul- 
loch. The first is dark complexioned, has blue eyes, is quick-spoken 
and is of excellent judgment. He is noted for his fine social quali- 
ties and kindness of heart. What man or woman in this section 
of the country that does not revere and love the memory of Colonel 
Kellar? That he is a bachelor is to be regretted. His erect form 
and fine personal bearing are doubtless attractive. 

Major Thompson is very good looking, has a fine eye, and an 
excellent disposition. 

Colonel McCulloch's appearance is iinc; he is of genial nature, 
and is an excellent officer. All three, subsequent!}^, were members 
of the General Assembly of A^irginia. 

Tliat corpident justice on the left, with full round face and white 
hair, is Jolm IJufl', Esq. But few magistrates transact more busi- 
ness at "Warrant tryings" than lie, and general satisfaction is 
given. 

'JMiat very tall, veiiernble and clerical-looking gentleman near Mr. 
Duff and from the same region of the county, is Edward Latham, 
Esq. His fine suit of black velvet, for which he has a great par- 
tiality, and his white flowing hair combed back over his head, well 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 479 

formed;, and his countenance lighted up with a smile, render his 
appearance very imposing. He possesses an excellent mind, and 
generally arrives at very correct conclusions. 

Those two justices just taking their seats are Major James Tay- 
lor and Hatch D. Poston, Esq. They reside in the upper end of 
the county and are gentlemen of excellent minds. In person they 
are fine looking, and as officers of the county, they are highly 
esteemed. 

Next you see a heavy, well-set justice. In his manner, he is 
very pleasant and agreeable, of good natural qualities, of well- 
balanced mind, of sound and correct judgment. That is William 
Davis, Esq. 

Esteemed for liis manly firmness and excellent nature, you see a 
tall and slender gentleman to the right of Mr. Davis. That is John 
McCulloch, Esq. 

Abram Nordyke, Samuel Moore and Thomas McChesney, Esqs., 
sit next. Those gentlemen are deservedly honored, and held in high 
esteem.. They take rank among the substantial men of the country. 

On the ex-treme left you are attracted by three gentlemen com- 
paratively 3'oung; we may say in the prime of manhood. They 
seem to take their position deferentially to the venerable men from 
whom they would learn lessons of wisdom in their new vocation. 
The first exhibits a fine personal appearance, ready in his utter- 
ances, and bends gracefully forward as he expresses an opinion, his 
red face sparkling with smiles, and he takes care to indulge, mean- 
while, in an occasional sally of wit and good humor. His genial, 
happy nature leads him to think well of the denizens of this world, 
and sometimes, even on the bench, he will illustrate his opinions by 
the relation of an appropriate anecdote. Intelligent and wise in 
council, the county has long been favored with his services. The 
justice referred to is John N. Humes, Esq. 

The second is a slender gentleman, very neat in his dress, sits 
quite erect and frequently turns his quick, penetrating eye towards 
the senior members of the court. He seems to measure his words, 
which are fitly spoken, when uttered, a valuable member of the court, 
very commendably polite, and extremely graceful in his manners. 
That member is Peter J. Branch, Esq. 

The third gentleman is very easy and social in manner and dis- 
position. His shoulders droop a little as he sits on the beuch; bis 



480 Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 

opinions are comiuunicated with unreserved freedom and with a 
sincere desire that right and justice shall prevail. His face is some- 
what elongated when he is looking serious, but pleasant and social 
as he is generally, he will often give you the benefit of one of his 
old-fashioned jokes. That valuable citizen and justice is Colonel 
Samuel E. Goodson. Pity some amiable lady had not long since 
won his heart, for, unfortunately for his country's good, he is a 
bachelor ! Since a Eepresentative in the State Legislature. 

Thomas McChesney, Esq., occupies his seat near the three last- 
named gentlemen. His tall, slender figure, his intellectual, gray 
head, forehead sloping back, give him an appearance at once com- 
manding respect. He performs a great deal of private business for 
his countymen in writing documents, and is a very useful citizen. 

Near Mr. McChesney sits Captain John Moffet. He is a gentle- 
man of fine sense, plain and unostentatious in manner. He is about 
five feet eleven inches high, with a full developed form, and has a 
very pleasant and genial appearance. In dispensing justice, he is 
decided, but always mild and courteous. 

The following lawyers composed the Abingdon bar in 1831, 
including those not residents of the county : Henry St. Jolm Dixon, 
Edward Campbell, John H. Fulton, Peter C. Johnston, Peter Mayo, 
David McComas, Charles C. Johnson, Joseph Draper, William M. 
Fulton, Samuel Logan, Dale Carter, Andrew S. Fulton, Charles E. 
Harrison, Charles S. Bekem, Beverly R. Johnston and John Hall, 
Esqs. 

The General Assembly of Virginia, on March 11, 1836, incorpo- 
rated the Lynchburg and Tennessee Railroad, and authoTized sub- 
scriptions to the enterprise at different points from Lynchburg, west. 

The commissioners appointed to solicit and receive subscrip- 
tions at Abingdon were: David Campbell, James White, Andrew 
Russell, John M. Preston, John C. Greenway, Francis Smith, John 
Preston, William Byars, Samuel E. Goodson, Jonathan King and 
John W. C. Watson. 

So far as I can ascertain, no effort of any consequence was made 
to build or complete the railroad as contemplated by the foregoing 
Act. 

In the year 1837 the construction of a turnpike road from Pond 
Gap of the Cumberland mountain on the Kentucky line to the 
Fincastle and Cumberland Gap road was begun, and John Preston, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 481 

William Byars, Charles S. Bekem and Charles J. Cummings, were 
apjxiiuted commissioners to solicit subscriptions to this enterprise 
by the coimty court of this county. 

Some time previous to the year 1837, the county court of this 
county decided to erect a new building to be used as a jail for this 
county, and appointed John M. Preston, Samuel Chastain and Elias 
Ogden a committee to superintend the erectiou of said building, and 
on the 28th day of May, 1838, the county court of this county 
authorized the erection of a stone kitchen twenty feet square from 
out to out, on the public lot on which the new jail was situated, and 
appointed John M. Preston, Elias Ogden and Jacob Lynch conunis- 
sioners for the purpose of contracting for and superintending the 
building thereof. 

The court directed this stone kitchen to be erected out of stone 
from the old jail of the county, which old jail was built at a very 
early date in the history of our county. The new county jail was 
completed on the 33d day of October, 1838, and received by the 
county. 

This jail was destroyed by the Federal troops in December, 18G4. 
It stood upon the lot at the intersection of Valley and Court streets. 

In the year 1837, Colonel John. Keller, the representative from 
this county in the Senate of Virginia, and a member of the county 
court of this county, departed this life. Whereupon the county 
court of this county adopted the following resolutions : 

"Authentic information of the recent death of our highly-es- 
teemed fellow-citizen. Col. John Keller, late our Eepresentative in 
the Senate of Virginia and a member of this Court, having reached 
the court of Washington county, whilst in session, and the court 
and bar being desirous of testifying their sense of the worth and 
excellence of Col. Keller, as w-ell as their sorrow for his loss by this 
afflicting dispensation of Divine Providence, in removing from us 
in the prime of manhood, a citizen so distinguished for his worth 
and usefulness and so generally esteemed and beloved for his 
amiable deportment and sterling integrity; it is therefore resolved 
that in token of respect for the memory of the late Col. John 
Keller and regret for his loss, the members of this court and bar 
will wear crape for the next month on the left arm. And it is fur- 
ther resolved that these proceedings be entered amongst the minutes 
of the court and published in the Virginia Statesman." 



482 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

Colonel Keller was succeeded in the Senate of Virginia by the 
Honorable Fayette ]\IcMullen, who represented this senatorial dis- 
trict for tJie term of ten years without a break. 

At the same time and for the same term the Hon. George W. 
Hopkins represented this district in the Congress of the United 
States, and tlie Hon. Samuel E. Goodson represented this county 
in the House of Delegates of Virginia, three Democrats of the Jack- 
sonian type and three of the most successful politicians in the his- 
tory of our country. 

On the 22d day of October, 1838, Colonel James White, one of 
the distinguished citizens of this country, departed this life. 

Upon receipt of the news of the death of Colonel White, the 
county court of Washington county adopted the following resolu- 
tions : 

"The death of Colonel James White, a most enterprising, use- 
ful and worthy citizen of this county, who has long been an able, 
enlightened, just and firm member of this court, being announced, 
and this court and its officers and the members of the bar being de- 
sirous of expressing their deep grief for his loss and the high re- 
spect which they entertain for his memory, unanimously adopt the 
following resolutions, which are ordered to be sj)read upon the 
records of the court. 

"1st. Eesolved, That the court, its officers and the members of 
the bar have heard with unfeigned regret of the death of Colonel 
James White. 

"2d. Eesolved, That in the death of Colonel James White society 
has lost a worthy, intelligent and excellent member, and the county 
an upright, just and efficient public officer. 

"3d. Eesolved, That as a mark of respect for the memory of the 
deceased, the court, its officers and the members of the bar will wear 
the usual badge of mourning for 30 days. 

"4th. Eesolved, That they tender their sincere condolence to the 
widow and children ol the deceased, and that they sincerely join 
with them in deploring the loss of the husband, father and friend. 

"5th. Eesolved, That the clerk of this court do f\irnish a copy of 
these resolutions to the widow of the deceased and that he also cause 
a copy of tliem to be furnished the Virginia Statesman, with a re- 
quest that the same be inserted. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 483 

"6th. Resolved, That this court do now adjourn and that they, 
its officers and the members of the bar will attend the funeral of 
the deceased to-morrow at ten o'clock/' 

Colonel White was the architect of his own fortune, and at the 
date of his death the wealthiest man that has lived in Washington 
county. 

Alexander Findlay, E. S. Watson and Peter J. Branch were se- 
lected to appraise and divide his property between his heirs-at- 
law, and their report shows that his personal property and landed 
estate was worth $669,085.05.* 

As an evidence of the superstition even now occasionally exist- 
ing among the lower class of the country, there resided in 1838, m 
the hills, a few miles from Abingdon, a man by the name of Marsh, 
who was deemed by his neighbors not only honest and industrious, 
but possessed ol as much intelligence as most people in the lower 
walks of life. This man was severely afflicted with scrofula, and 
imagined his disease to be the effects of a spell or pow-wow prac- 
ticed upon him by a conjurer or wizard in the neighborhood by the 
name of Yates. This impression taking firm hold of Marsh's mind, 
he was thoroughly convinced that Yates could, if he chose, remove 
the malady. The latter, termed an Indian doctor, was sent for 
and administered his nostrums. The patient, growing worse, 
determined to try another remedy, which was to take the life of 
Yates. To accomplish this he sketched a rude likeness of Yates 
upon a tree, and shot at it repeatedly with bullets containing a 
portion of silver. Yates, contrary to his expectations, still sur- 
vived. Marsh then determined to draw a bead upon the original, 
and accordingly charged an old musket with two balls, an admix- 
ture of silver and lead, watched an opportunity and shot his vic- 
tim as he was quietly passing along the road, both balls entering 
the back of the neck. Yates, however, survived, and Marsh was 
sent to the penitentiary. f 



*Deed Book 21, page 8, Washington county. 
fCampbell MSS. 



484 Southwest Virginia^ 17Jf6--17S0. 



CHAPTEE X. 

WASHINGTON COUNTY^ 1840-1870. 

About this time political lines were closely drawn in Washing- 
ton count}^, and the zealous work of the advocates of the Whig and 
Democratic jjarties has not been surpassed in the history of our 
county. 

Freeholders were the only qualified voters, and the great ef- 
fort of the advocates of tlie two parties was tO' enfranchise every 
male citizen sjTiipathizing with their respective parties. 

*Two brothers, prominent citizens of this county, were opposed 
in their political views, one being a Whig and the other a Demo- 
crat. They were the owners of a large tract of land situated in 
this county. The Whig brother conveyed his interest in the said 
land to a large number of persons of Whig sympathies, qualify- 
ing tliem to vote, and thereupon the Democratic brother con- 
veyed his lands to an equal number of male citizens of Demo- 
cratic proclivities, and Governor David Campbell, who was the 
owTier of the south side of Clinch mountain from Little Moccasin 
Gap to Mendota, executed numerous deeds to his political friends 
for the i3ur2>ose of enfranchising them. In man}^ instances the 
grantee never knew the location of his land nor did he care. 

In the presidential campaign in 1840 William Henry Harrison 
was elected President of the United States, and there was great 
rejoicing among the Whigs of this section. The Whig ticket in 
that campaign was as follO'WS : 

EEPUBLICAN WHIG TICKET. 

For President, 

WILLIAM HENRY HAEEISOF, of OHIO. 

For Vice-President. 
JOHN TYLEE, of Virginia. 



*B. K. and M. H. Buchanan. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 485 

Districts. Electors. 

1. JOHN" W. MURDAUGH, of Norfolk county ; 

2. JOHN UEQUHART, of Southampton; 

3. WILLIAM S. ARCHER, of Amelia; 

4. RICHARD KIDDER MEADE, of Dinwiddle; 

5. HENRY E. WATKINS, of Prince Edward ; 

6. JAMES C. BRUCE, of Halifax; 

7. WHITMELL P. TUNSTALL, of Pittsylvania; 

8. THOMAS R. JOYNES, of Accomack; 

9. NORBORNE E. SUTTON, of Caroline; 

10. WILLOUGHBY NEWTON, of Westmoreland ; 

11. JAMES LYONS, of Richmond City; 

12. VALENTINE W. SOUTHALL, of Albemarle; 

13. JOHN S. PENDLETON, of Culpeper; 

14. JOHN JANNEY, of Loudoun; 

15. ANDREW HUNTER, of Jefferson; 

16. PHILIP WILLIAMS, JR., of Frederick; 

17. WILLIAM SEYMOUR, of Hardy; 

18. BRISCOE G. BALDWIN, of Augusta; 

19. BALLARD SMITH, of Greenbrier; 

20. EDWARD JOHNSTON, of Botetourt; 

21. JOHN N. HUMES, of Washington; 

22. GEORGE W. SUMMERS, of Kanawha; 

23. WAITMAN T. WILEY, of Monangalia. 

There were but three precincts in Washington county at tliis 
time, to-wit, Joseph Meek's, the courthouse and Three Springs. 

The election at the three precincts named was conducted by the 
following persons : 

Joseph Meek's. Courthouse. 

Parker Smith, Ed. Latham, 

Joseph Miller, Jonathan King, 

John Clark, Daniel Lynch, 

David Beattie, J. A. Davis, 

Lewis Smith, Samuel Logan. 

- ■ " Three Springs. 
Thos. Fulkerson, John Horn, 

Peter S. Hanby, Isaac Stoffle, 

Zachariah Jourdan. 



486 Southwest Virginia, 17J,0--1786. 

Upon the death of President Harrison, in 1841, the 14th of 
May, 1841, was, pursuant to the proclamation of John Tyler, 
President of the United States, observed as a day of fasting and 
prayer by the citizens of Washington county; and on the 13th 
day of Ma}^, 1841, the Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chan- 
cery of this county entered the following order — Judge Estill pre- 
siding : 

"To-morrow being the day of fasting, humiliation and prayer 
appointed by proclamation, to be observed by the people of the 
U. S. in testimony of a nation's sorrow for the death of William 
Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, and this 
court and bar intending so to observe the said day, it is therefore 
ordered that this court be adjourned till Saturday next, at nine 
o'clock in the morning." 

A similar order was entered by the circuit court of Washington 
county, Virginia, upon the death of President McKinley in the 
year 1901. 

The cost of supporting the poor of the county had, by the year 
1841, increased to such an extent that the county court of this 
county decided to sell the poorhouse and maintain the poor by 
having them supported in their homes, and a committee was ap- 
pointed for the purpose of selling the lands occupied by the poor- 
house of the county, but soon thereafter and before the lands 
were sold, the order directing the sale of the property was, for 
some reason, revoked, and between this time and the year 1860 
considerable improvements were made upon the poorhouse farm, 
M'hich consisted of the lands now occupied by J. A. P. Ryan. 

By order of the county court during this year the commissioners 
of the revenue were directed to omit from their lists the stu- 
dents of the Ahingdon Academy and of Emory and Henry College. 

The country at the time in question was greatly agitated over 
the Texas revolution and the attitude of Mexico toward the United 
States. The Democratic party, advocating war and the annexation 
of Texas, nominated James K. Polk for President, and the Whigs 
nominated Henry Clay. The contest between the parties in this 
election was bitter from the start, but resulted in the election of 
James Iv. Polk. 

As a result of this election war was inevitable, and from the 
spring of 1845 to the summer of 1846 the youth of Washington 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 487 

county were monthly drilled and trained in the art of war. The 
Government at Eichniond furnished the militia ollicers of Wash- 
ington county with a cannon and a number of guns, and Abram 
Mongle, colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-sixth regiment, 
was given permission by the county court, on the 28th day of 
April, 1845, to erect a shed on the public lot for the protection 
and preservation of the artillery allowed the county, and on the 
35th day of March, 184G, A. C. Cummings was permitted to erect 
a house on the public square for the preservation of a cannon al- 
lowed tlie militia of the county by the State authorities, and 
twenty dollars was appropriated by the county court to pay for the 
house. 

Upon the breaking out of the j\lexican War, three large com- 
panies of volunteers were organized in Washington county, one in 
the lower end of the county, officered by Captain Frank Campbell 
and Lieutenant Samuel V. Fulkerson; another at Abingdon, offi- 
cered by Captain Arthur Campbell Cummings and Lieutenant 
James T. Preston; another in the upper end of tlie county, the 
names of the officers of which I cannot ascertain. 

General Peter C. Johnston took an active interest in enlisting 
the young men of the county in these companies, and during the 
time, accompanied by a number of young men from Washington 
county, visited Lebanon on a court day, and took with him the can- 
non that was at that time in the possession of the militia officers 
of Washington county. 

When the three companies above mentioned were completed, their 
services were tendered to the Governor of the State, but were de- 
clined, as the State had furnished its full quota of men. 

The only opportunity for the citizens of this county to serve 
their country in this war was to secure their commissions from the 
President and enlist in the regular army. 

In the spring of the year 1847, President Polk commissioned 
Arthur Campbell Cummings, a graduate of the Virginia Military 
Institute and an attorney at the Abingdon bar, a captain in the 
regular army. Upon the receipt of his commission Captain Cum- 
mings proceeded to enlist all volunteers possible for the regular 
army, and on the 27th day of April, 1847, with fifteen recruits, 
left Abingdon for Mexico. The night of the first day was spent 
at Hansonville, the night of the second day at Virginia City, with 



488 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

James Dickenson; the night of the third day at Wise Courthouse 
with Captain Samuel Sal3^ers; the night of the fourth day one 
mile over the Cumberland mountains with a Mr. Mullin; the night 
of the fifth day fifteen miles east of Pikeville, Kentucky, and from 
Pikeville, Kentucky, Captain Cummings and the troops proceeded 
by wat«r to Newport, Kentucky; thence by the Oliio and Missis- 
sippi rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, and tlience to Vera Cruz, 
Mexico, where he joined his command. 

Captain Cummings and his men were assigned to Company K 
of the Eleventh regiment of the United States Infantry, which 
regiment was officered as follows : 

Colonel, Albert C. Eamsey, of Pennsylvania. 

Lieutenant-Colonel, Graham, killed in the battle 

of Moline del Eey. 

Lieutenant-Colonel, John LL Savage, Tennessee, succeeded to 
command upon the death of Graham. 

Captain, Arthur Campbell Cummings. 

Privates. 

James Dickenson, killed, Abingdon, 1865. 

William Haley, served in C. S. A.; died at Winchester, 1862. 

Wesley Hubbard, Tazewell county. 

Moses Hubbard, died Pueblo, Mexico, 18-17. 

John S. Lynch, Washington county, killed Passo Ovejas, 
Mexico; buried there. 

Pawpaw, wagoner, died Pueblo, Mexico, 18-17. 

John Slaughter, Washington county; served in C. S. A. ; died near 
Banhams in 1898. 

James J. Shelton, Washington county; served in C. S. A.; 
married a daugiiter of George Garrett; killed at Cliancellorsville. 

Hezekiah Smallwood, Scott county; killed accidentally in Scott 
connty. 

Snead, Scott county. 

Eobert Wilson, died near Lynchburg. 

James Wynn, Tazewell county; emigrated to jMissouri. 

Marvel White, Scott county. 

W. S. Wood, Scott county, brother-in-law of Fayette McMullen. 

In addition to the volunteers accompanying Captain Cum- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 489 

iiiings, the following Mexican veterans lived in this county, so far 
as I can ascertain : 

Jolin Dinsmore, William E. Jones, 

John M. Cunningham, John P. Johnston, 

William Ehea, John C. Deadmore, Tex., Rev. 

Samuel Davis, Tex., Eev. Madison Leedy, Tex., Eev. 

The successful conclusion of the Mexican War gave great im- 
petus to the emigration from this sectiO'U of Virginia to Texas, 
large numbers of the young men of the county emigrating thither. 

The building of a new courthouse for the county was considered 
by the county court of this county in the fall of 1847, and the Leg- 
islature of Virginia, on the 15th of January, 1848, authorized the 
County Court of Washington county, Virginia, to borrow ten thou- 
sand dollars for the purpose of erecting a new^ courthouse. The 
county court at the June term, 1848, decided to borrow ten thou- 
sand dollars and erect a new courthouse, and appointed John M. 
Preston, William Y. C. White and John D. Mitchell, commission- 
ers, to borrow the money and superintend the erection thereof. 

The building of the new courthouse was let to Herbert M. Led- 
lietter and William Fields, contractors, and, by the spring of 1850, 
the courthouse was completed and Jacob Lynch and Connally F. 
Trigg were appointed a committee to purchase the necessary tables, 
chairs, carpets, etc., for the new courthouse. 

The courthouse thus completed served the county until the 15th 
of December, 18C4. at which time it was destroyed by the fire that 
l)urnt the town of Abingdon. 

Tn the year 1848, General Zachary Taylor and General Lewis Cass 
were the Whig and the Democratic candidates for the presidency, 
while the Honorable Fayette Mc:\lullen and Samuel E. Goodson 
were the Democratic candidatci'- and Andrew S. Fulton the Whig 
candidate for Congress from this district. The Whig ticket was as 
follows : 

For President, 
MAJ.-GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR, OF LOUISIANA. 

For Vice-President, 
MILLARD FILLMORE, OF NEW YORK. 



490 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Electoral Ticket. 

1. John J. Jones, Isle of Wight. 

2. George W. Boiling, of Petersburg. 

3. Henry P. Irving, of Cumberland. 

4. Joseph K. Irving, of Lynchburg. 

5. W. Martin, of Franklin. 

fi. B. Johnson Barbour, of Culpeper. 

7. Eobert E. Scott, of Fauquier. 

8. H. T. Garnett, of Westmoreland. 

9. John A. Meredith, of Eichmond City. 

10. Eohert Saunders, of Williamsburg. 

11. Andrew Hunter, of Jefferson. 

12. A. H. H. Stuart, of Augusta. 

13. S. McD. Moore, of Eockbridge. 

14. Connally F. Trigg, of Washiugton. 

15. G. W. Summers, of Kanawlia. 

16. G. D. Camden, of Harrison. 

17. F. H. Pierpont, of Marion. 

Assistant Elector. 

14th District, James W. Sheffey, Esq., of Smyth. 

County and Town Electors. 

Grayson, Dr. Eobertson, 
Lee, John M. Crockett. 
Eussell, Dale Carter. 
Scott, William Spear. 
Smyth, Thomas L. Preston. 
Tazewell, John A. Kelly, 
Wythe, P. S. Buckingham. 
Washington, Charles S. Bekem. 

In the contest for the seat in Congress, the Honorable A. S. 
Fulton defeated his Democratic opponents and represented this dis- 
trict until the year 1849. 

The Honorable Fayette McMullen represented this district for a 
niimber of years in the Congress of ihe United States, nnd while 
he had but little ability as a statesman, he was one of the niost pop- 
ular men and effective canvassers that ever lived in this disbrict. 
He kissed the babies, joked with the men and flattered the women 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 491 

upon all occasions. He knew, personally, nearly every voter in the 
district. Numerous anecdotes are told of Colonel McMuUen, the 
best now recollected being told by Senator Vest, of Missouri. This 
anecdote was told by the Senator to illustrate the propensity on tb.ti 
part of some people for speech-making. 

"It occurred in Virginia," said Vest. "Old Fayette McMullen 
was canvassing his district for a nomination for Congress, years 
ago, and during the canvass a man was hung in that locality for 
murder. About ten thousand men collected to witness the scene, 
and among them old Mac, who, by the favor of the sheriff, occupied 
a place on the platform in tlie rear of the gallows, his oratorical 
mouth watering at the sight of the magnificent audience in front. 
When everything was ready, as is usual in such cases, the sheriff 
asked the culprit if he had anything to say before the sen- 
tence of the law M^as passed upon him; to which the condeinned 
responded that he would say nothing. Whereupon old Mac 
stepped forward, rubbing his hands, and remarked: 'Mr. Sheriff, 
if the gentleman will yield his time to me, I will embrace this 
occasion to make a few remarks on the political situation, and 
announce myself a candidate for Congress.' " 

Major Eobert E. Bradley, a distinguished and popular citizen 
of this county, died in the month of November, 1849, and the 
county court of this county out of respect to his memory adopted 
appropriate resolutions. 

The Constitution of 1829-1830 had never been satisfactory to a 
large majority of the people of Virginia in this, that the right 
of suffrage was restricted to a greater extent than the times 
demanded, and the representation, as between the sections, was so 
unequally apportioned as to give dissatisfaction to all the people of 
Western Virginia. By the year 1850, Western and Northwestern 
Virginia had increased in population and wealth so rapidly that in 
this year this section of Virginia succeeded in having adopted a 
resolution by the General Assembly submitting to the people the 
question of the calling of a Constitutional Convention. This ques- 
tion was submitted to the people on the fourth Thursday in April, 
1850, and resulted in the calling of a Constitutional Convention. 

The election for members to this convention was held in the sum- 
mer of 1850. This district was composed of Wythe, Smyth and 
Washington, and the candidates before the people in said election 



492 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

were: George W. Hopkins, B. R. Floyd, Thomas M. Tate, Demo- 
crats. Connally P. Trigg, Andrew S. Fulton, James W. Sheffey, 
Whigs. The two first named were elected by an average majority of 
three hundred and forty-one, while the majority of Thomas M. 
Tate, Democrat, over James W. Sheffey, Whig, was fifty-five. 

At the time in question, George W. Hopkins was a member of 
the General Assembly of Virginia, and, upon the convening of the 
General Assembly in the fall of the year, he was elected Speaker of 
the House of Delgates, and resigned his position as a member of 
the Constitutional Convention, and the Honorable Connally F. 
Trigg was elected without opposition to fill the vacancy. 

This Convention assembled in the hall of the House of Dele- 
gates at Richmond, on October 14, 1850. It was controlled in 
nearly all of its proceedings by what was known at the time as 
"Reformers." This convention extended the right of suffrage to 
every white male citizen of the Commonwealth of the age of twenty- 
one years, who had been a resident of the State for two years, and 
of the county, city or town where he offered to vote, for twelve 
months, excluding persons of unsound mind, criminals, etc. 

It was provided therein that the vote should be given openly, or 
viva voce, and not by ballot. 

It will be observed that this was a radical change from the pro- 
visions of the former constitution of the State, property qualifica- 
tions of all kinds were dispensed with, and manhood sufErage, for 
the first time in the history of the Commonwealth, was made a 
part of the organic law of the State. 

The question of the apportionment of representation was 
deferred by this Constitution until the year 1865, and was never 
put into operation, as in the year 1865 the Comjmonwealth was 
in great turmoil. 

Had the provisions of this Constitution become effective as to 
representation, this question would have been settled in a manner 
satisfactory to the citizens of Western Virginia. 

By this Constitution, the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and 
Attorney-General were made elective by the people, the Governor 
and Attorney-General of the State having been theretofore selected 
by the Council of State and the General Assembly. This was a 
great change from the former conditions existing in Virginia and 



"Washington County, 1777-1870. 493 

was antagonistic to the old system and former institutions of the 
State. 

All the judges and justices were nuide elective by the people. 
Each county was to be laid off into districts, and four justices were 
to be elected from each district. 

This Constitution was submitted to the people for ratification or 
rejection, and all persons qualified to vote under the proposed 
Constitution were permitted to exercise the right of suffrage in 
said election. The vote resulted in the ratification of the Consti- 
tution by the people in the month of October, 1851, the vote being 
75,748 for, and 11,060 against the new Constitution. The vote 
in Washington county was 1,083 for and 13 against the ratification 
of the Constitution, the twelve votes against the Constitution 
being polled at Abingdon precinct. 

In the fall of this year tlie Democratic and Whig parties nomi- 
nated their strongest men for Governor and the Legislature, 
George W. Summers, of Kanawha county, being the Whig, and 
Joseph Johnson, of Harrison county, the Democratic candidates 
for Governor, while in this county, Isaac B. Dunn and William 
King were the Democratic candidates and John A, Campbell and 
James Orr, the Whig candidates for the Legislature. The result 
was the election of the Democratic candidates in the State and 
the county by a greatly-reduced majority. This was the first time 
in tlie history of the Commonwealth that the Governor of the Com- 
monwealth was elected by popular vote and Virginia's first expe- 
rience with manhood suffrage. 

At the same election the followii\g county officers were selected: 

Clerk of the County Court, Jacob Lynch. 

Commonwealth's Attorney, Samuel Logan. 

Sheriff, Matthew H. Buchanan. 

C-ounty-Surveyor, James C. Black. 

Commissioner-Eevenue, upper end, lioI)crt FT. Henderson. 

Commissioner-Eevenue, lower end, James L. P. Campbell. 

At the same time twenty-four members of the county court were 
elected by the people. In the year 1853, Washington county was 
divided into magisterial districts by Jonathan King, Washington 
Bishop, Eobert B. Edmondson, Alexander Findlay, James C. 
Fulcher, James L. Davis, Michael W. Weatliers, John M. Hamilton. 
L. L. Waterman, Peter S. Hanby and Whitley Fullen, commis- 



494 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

sioners appointed for that purpose, and the members of the county 
court were divided into cla,sses and held the court in the order 
arranged. 

From this time forward, the magnificent specimen of manhood 
that so often adorned the old county court of this county grad- 
ually disappeared, and their places, in many instances, were filled 
by men who were able to control the voters, either by an appeal 
to party passion or corrupt measures. 

The members of the county court were elected from this time 
until the year 1870, at which time the old county court system was 
abolished. 

In the fall of the year 1850, a considerable revival was evidenced 
among the agricultural portion of the people of Washington county. 
After notice, a number of the citizens of the county assembled at 
the courthouse for the purpose of organizing an agricultural 
society for this county. 

At this meeting, upon motion of Connally F. Trigg, Colonel Wil- 
liam Byars was elected chairman and John A. Campbell secretary, 
and the following resolution was adopted : 

That the chair appoint a committee of five gentlemen to pre- 
pare and report a constitution to our next meeting, under which 
the agricultural society for Washington county shall be organized. 

Thereupon the chairman appointed the following committee : 
Connally F. Trigg, chairman ; Wyndham Eobertson, F. H. Preston, 
Samuel E. Goodson and William Y. C. White. The meeting then 
adjourned to the 28th day of September, 1850, on which day a 
large number of the leading citizens of the county met at the 
courthouse and adopted a constitution and by-laws and elected 
the following officers of the agricultural society. 

President, William Byars. 

Vice-Presidents, David Campbell, William C. Edmondson and 
James L. Davis. 

Secretary, John A. Campbell. 

Treasurer, John M. Preston. 

Executive Committee, William Y. C. White, Lewis F. Cosby, 
Isaac Home, F. H. Preston and John Baker. 

The agricultural interest of Washington county was closely 
looked after, and prospered to a considerable extent for many 
years. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 495 

The General Assembly of Virginia at its session in the year 
1849, incorporated the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad Company, 
and interest throughout this section of Virginia in the building of 
this railroad was greatly stimulated. 

A railroad meeting was held at Abingdon on tlie first day of 
July court, 1849, for the purpose of electing delegates to a con- 
vention to be held at Christiansburg on the 7th of August. Gov- 
ernor Wyndham Eobertson was elected chairman and Leo Shaver, 
secretary of the meeting, and on motion of John A. Campbell the 
chairman appointed John M. Preston, Dr. Snead, Jacob Lynch, 
C. F. Trigg and John A. Campbell a committee to draft resolu- 
tions expressive of the sense of the meeting. The meeting was 
addressed by Governor Eobertson, who dwelt upon the paramount 
importance of the road to this section of Virginia. 

John A. Campbell, chairman of the committee, reported the fol- 
lowing resolutions, which were adopted : 

"Eesolved, That we, the people of Washington county, respond 
cordially to the invitation made us by the county of Montgomery, 
to appoint delegates to the convention proposed to be held at Chris- 
tiansburg on the 7th of August, next, to take measures in aid of, 
and to promote subscriptions of stock to, the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee Eailroad. 

Eesolved, That both local and general considerations urgently 
recommend this great work to the enlightened self-interest and the 
patriotism of the people of the whole Southwest. 

Eesolved, That twenty delegates he appointed in behalf of this 
county to attend the said convention; and that they be char.i;od to 
cooperate heartily in any measure proposed by said convontioji, cal- 
culated to attain the desired object. 

Pursuant to the third resolution, the chairman appoin (od tlie 
following-named gentlemen delegates to said convention: John M. 
Preston, Colonel William Byars, Major John Campbell, William 
King Heiskell, William C. Edmondson, William Y. C. White, 
C. F. Trigg, Tliomas L. Preston, John Gray, Charles B. Coale, 
John A. Campbell, Colonel Ota H. Ward, C. S. Bekem, John D. 
Mitchell, Colonel James L. Davis, Dr. N. Snead, William B. Byars, 
Dr. A. E. Preston, John C. Cumraings and Colonel Abram Mongle. 

The convention was held at Ckristiansburg, and in the month of 



496 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

April, 1850, a corps of engineers were engaged in making a snrvey 
preparatory to the location of a railroad through this county. 

Another mass meeting of the citizens of the county was held in 
Abingdon on the 25th day of August, 1850, for the purpose of elect- 
ing delegates to a railroad convention to be held in the to-wn oL' 
W}i:heville on the 11th of September, 1850, at which meeting Dr. 
Daniel Trigg presided and James T. Preston acted as secretary. 

On the 20th of September, 1850, a railroad meeting was held 
at Elizabeth Chapel at Saltville, having for its object the election 
of delegates tO' a railroad convention to be held at JefEersonville, 
on the 17th of October. The object of this convention was to have 
the Virginia and Tennessee railroad located from New river along 
Walker's creek and Holston Valley, passing Saltville. The pro- 
ceedings of said meeting were as follows : 

"On motion. Major A. B. Trigg was called to the chair and 
"William P. Bishop and William King were appointed secretaries. 

The object of the meeting was explained by Dr. Robert Thurman, 
and the following-named persons appointed to report resolutions 
for the action of the meeting: Dr. Alex. McCall, Major Thomas 
Tate, Dr. Robert Thurman, H. D. Postou, Theo. G. Pearson, D. 
M. Hi>nter and John Roberts. 

The committee retired and afterwards reported the following 
resolutions which were unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That it is expedient for the carrying out of the objects 
of this meeting that the committee hereby appointed shall solicit 
• the concurrent support of the people of Russell, Tazewell, Washing- 
ton, Smyth, Wythe, Mercer, Giles, Boone, Monroe, Logan, Wyo- 
ming, Kanawha, Fayette and Greenbrier counties, in behalf of 
obtaining a survey for the Virginia and Tennessee railroad from 
New river along W^alker's creek and Holston Valley, passing the 
Gypsum bank and Salt Works to the Tennessee line for intersection 
with the Tennessee railroad at the most convenient point. 

Resolved, That a general meeting of the citizens of the aforesaid 
counties and others interested be held on the 17th day of October 
next, at Tazewell Courthouse, in aid of the aforesaid objects. 

Resolved, That the following-named persons be appointed dele- 
gates to said convention : Tobias Smyth, James Kelly, W. W. Har- 
vey, James McNew, J. M. Ropp, Wyndham Robertson, Alex. 
McCall, D. M. Hunter, Thomas L. Preston, James T, Morehead, 
Robert Thurman, James Saunders, T. G. Pearson, H. D. Poston, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 497 

Whitley Fulleu, 0. H. Ward, John Roberts, Charles C. Taylor, 
Charles C. Campbell, Jerome Campbell, Jezrell Harman, P. C. 
Buchanan, Jr., Joseph Sexton, A. H. Cox, James Cox, Ransom 
Tilson, Martin Davis, William P. Milner, C. P. McDonald, G. W. 
Buchanan, John B. Tate, C. J. Shannon, P. C. Buchanan, Sr, 
and J. P. Baugh. 

Pesolved, That the names of the chairman and secretaries be 
added to the said delegation. 

Eesohed, That the Abingdon Democrat, Abingdon Virginian, 
Jefferson vj lie Democrat, Wytheville Picpublican and other papers 
friendly to the objects of tbis meeting be requested to publish its 
proceedings at the earliest time practicable. 

On motion, the meeting adjourned. 

A. B. TRIGG, Chairman. 

W. P. BISHOP, 

WILLIAM KING, Secretaries. 

The County Court of Washington county, on the 28th of July, 
1851, directed the election officers of this county to submit to the 
qualified voters of the county, at the next general election, the ques- 
tion whether the court of this county, on behalf of the county, should 
subscribe to the stock of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad 
Company the sum of $33,400, on condition that said road be put 
under contract to the Tennessee line the ensuing fall, and in the 
month of October, 1851, a great railroad meeting was held in 
Abingdon, at which meeting delegates attended from most of the 
counties of Southwestern A^irginia and East Tennessee. The pro- 
ceedings of this meeting are here given. 

On Wednesday last, pursuant to previous notice, a great railroad 
convention was held in Abingdon. It met at 13 M. and was tem- 
porarily organized by the call of ilajor John Campbell as chairman, 
and the appointment of Charles B. Coale and William King Heis- 
kell as secretaries. 

On motion of C. P. Trigg, a committee of seven was appointed 
to select and report officers for the convention, whereupon the chair- 
man appointed the following gentlemen said committee — viz. : C. P. 
Trigg, I. B. Dunn, W. Y. C. White, P. J. Branch, J. L. Davis, Dr. 
T. M. Tate and Colonel William Byars. 

The committee having retired for a few minutes, returned and 
reported the following nominations for officers, all of whom were 
unanimously elected. 



498 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

For President, Hon. Seth J. Lucky, of Tennessee. 

For Vice-Presidents, Colonel William L. Burwell, of Bedford; 
Colonel L. C. Haynes, of Tennessee; Colonel Thomas J. Boyd, of 
Wythe; Hon. William B. Preston, of Montgomery; John S. Gaines, 
Esq., of Tennessee; E. S. Watson, Esq., of Smythe; Colonel Wil- 
liam Heiskell, of Tennessee. 

For Secretaries, Charles B. Coale, Leonidas Baugh and William 
King HeiskelL 

The names of the delegates were then recorded. 

From Washington coamty, Virginia, there were several hundred 
delegates in attendance, and it was impossible to procure a list of 
them. 

Smyth county — James F. Pendleton, Thomas L. Preston, James 
Saunders, Dr. Thomas M. Tate, H. D. Poston, Esq., Meade E. 
Smythe, Eichard Haller, John C. Poston, William T. Campbell, 
E. S. Watson, Esq., Dr. William T. Thurman, William Porter, 
Esq., Eobert Houston, Esq., A. H. Campbell, James C. Smythe, 
Dr. Eobert Thurman, John C. Eogers James Campbell, John 
Campbell, Thomas H. Thurman, Colonel Hiram A. Greever, Johii 
H. Barton, John Pride and Eobert Goolsby. 

Wythe county— Colonel Thomas Boyd, Mitchell B. Tate, Charles 
S. Crockett, Esq. and P. S. Buckingham, Esq. 

Bedford county — William M. Burwell, Esq. 

Scott count}^ — Samuel V. Fulkerson, Esq. 

Eussell county — Eichard H. Lynch, Dr. John T. Smith, John 
McElheny and Charles L. Creigh. 

Montgomery county — Hon. William B. Preston. 

Emory and Henry College — Professor Edmund Longley. 

Eichmond city — Wyndham Eobertson. 

Giles county — (as alternates). Colonel Thomas J. Boyd, Dr. 
Thomas M. Tate and Colonel S. E. Goodson. 
From Tennessee. 

Sullivan county — Eobert P. Ehea, Samuel Ehea, William L}Tin, 
James W. Preston, John S. Gaines, George M. Bachman, Eev. S. D. 
Grimes, Hon. A. McClellan, A. B. Tipton, General James Dulaney, 
Eli Marsh, Cyrus King, D. Willoughby, Benjamin Pemberton, 
David McClellan, James Crockett, John G. King, William Wil- 
loughby, John L. Keys, William Odell, Leander G. Dryden and 
Leander M. King. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 499 

Jefferson county — William F. Anderson and Samuel N. Fain, 

Green county — John McGaugliey, Peter Earnest and Colonel 
Loyd Pilghman, C'hief Engineer of the Tennessee and Virginia 
Eailroad. 

Washington county — Dr. Samuel B. Cunningham, Colonel Lan- 
don C. Haynes, Hon. Seth J. Lucky, William G. Gammon, Joseph 
S. Ehea, Samuel D. Mitchell, Isaac McPherson, Henry \'oung, 
George Grisham, John A. Wilds, William H. Crouch, Albert .s. 
Graham and Colonel A. E. Jackson. 

McMinn— Thomas L. Preston, W. Y. C. White and Colonel Wil- 
liam King Heiskell as alternates. 

Monroe county — Colonel William King Heiskell. 

Carter county — N. J. Taylor, Colonel William C. Eimnert and 
Nathaniel M. Taylor, Esq. 

Caldwell count}'^, North Carolina — Colonel William A. Lenoir. 

Huntsville, Alabama — Dr. L. B. Sheffey. 

The chair appointed Messrs. W. Eobertson and C. F, Trigg to 
conduct the president-elect to the chair, who promptly and cheer- 
fully performed that duty, when the president indulged in a few 
brief and eloquent remarks explanatory of the object of the con- 
vention, and closed by calling upon the president of the Virginia 
and Tennessee Eailroad Company (General 0. G. Clay) for an 
exposition of the condition and prospects of the work. 

General Clay, having complied, stated that but the comparatively 
insignificant sum of $200,000 was wanting to complete the work 
from Lynchburg to the Tennessee line. On motion of C. F. Trigg, 
Esq., Professor Edmund Longley, who was present, and who had 
been appointed a delegate to this convention, by a meeting of the 
students of Emory and Henry College, was invited to take a seat 
and participate in the deliberations of the convention. 

It was moved by Wyndham Eobertson, Esq., that a committee 
of seven be appointed to prepare a series of resolutions for the con- 
sideration of this convention; whereupon the president appointed 
the following gentlemen said committee: W. Eobertson, Esq., Dr, 
S. B. Cimningham, Colonel S. E. Goodson, Hon. A. McClellan, 
Thomas L, Preston, Esq., Captain J. A. Campbell and William 
King Heiskell, Esq, 

The committee having retired, in response to a call made upon 
him. Colonel L, C. Haynes, of Tennessee, entertained the audience 



500 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

for more than an hour, with a most thrilling, eloquent and 
uuauswerable address, in advocacy of tliis great improvement; at 
tlie close of which (the committee not having returned), Colonel 
William M. Burwell, of Bedford, was loudly called for and briefly, 
but eloquently, addressed the convention. 

The committee returned, but not having accomplished their 
work, 

On motion, the convention adjourned till to-morrow morning at 
ten o'clock. 

The convention, in pursuance of adjournment yesterday, assem- 
bled at ten o'clock. 

A number of ladies were present on the morning of the second 
day, blessing and cheering the members of the convention and those 
in attendance, with their smiles and presence, urging us on to 
renewed efforts in behalf of this great work, for their sakes, at least, 
if not for onr own. 

Colonel John McGaughey, being called upon for that purpose, 
occupied the stand for a short time, during which he advocated 
the speedy completion of this great railroad line, and deprecated 
that want of energy and nerve that has lost to so many forlorn 
bachelors a prize worth more than all the gold of California; and 
the lack of which is so detrimental to the interests of our great 
railroad. 

After Mr. McGaughey concluded, the committee appointed yes- 
terday, through its chairman, Wyndham Eobertson, Esq., submitted 
the following resolutions — viz. : 

Eesolved, That all history has shown, and all experience still 
attests, that an easy and convenient means of intercourse between 
men and of a ready interchange of the products of labor, if not the 
main spring, is yet the indispensable condition of human progress 
and national power, and of all the ameliorations, social, moral, 
political and material, that follow in their train. 

Eesolved, That from the introduction of railroads to the present 
day, a like unvarying experience, wherever they have been tried, 
has fully established their vast and yet unrealized importance to 
the cause of civilization and of natural and individual wealth — 
outstripping in their results, year after year, all previous calcula- 
tions of their capacity for usefulness, and that, in view of the over- 
whelming array of concurrent proof, we feel authorized to declare. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 501 

that, in our opinion, tlie value of the railroad is no more than the 
value of light and heat, of the steamboat or mariner's compass, open 
to question. 

Eesolved, That among the projected railway communications of 
the day, we recognize the great southwestern national "route — pass- 
ing througli Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee — which pur- 
poses to connect, through the most favorable depression of the Alle- 
ghanies, the waters and people of the West and South with the 
waters and people of the East and North, which, in particular, by 
the most direct location possible across the Union connects New 
Orleans with the seat of the national government and the eastern 
cities, and which promises at no distant day to offer the most direct 
practicable connection between our Pacific and Atlantic borders, 
as second in importance to no other, exerting, as it must, a great 
and most beneficent infiuence on all the great interests of our coun- 
tr}' — commercial, social and political. 

Eesolved, That the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and the 
East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, occupying the very throat 
of the pass between the West and East, form a most interesting 
portion of this great line and must largely share in the mighty 
results to flow from it; and yet more, because, viewed in its local 
aspects, their result must inevitably be to augment production, 
cheapen transportation, increase population and diffuse knowledge, 
they pre-eminently deserve the fostering care of the States in 
which they lie, and present the strongest claims on them and on the 
people along the line, to a most liberal support. 

Eesolved, That, connected by the strong ties of vicinage with 
our sister State of Tennessee and by the bond of a common interest 
in the prosecution of this great line of improvement, this conven- 
tion feels at liberty and does most earnestly appeal to the authori- 
ties of the State to lend their liberal aid and cooperation to our 
fello'W-citizens of East Tennessee, who are now laboring, with inade- 
quate means, but enlightened and patriotic spirit, to construct the 
East Tennessee and Virginia Eailroad. 

Eesolved, That the Legislature of Virginia, by its generous par- 
ticipation in the expenses of the construction of the Virginia and 
Tennessee Eailroad, by the liberal charter granted it and by the 
wise policy it encourages by authorized county subscriptions to 
public works, has well and wisely discharged a high public duty, 



502 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

and receive the merited tribute of the acknowledgments of this i 
convention. 

Eesolved, That while we consider the ultimate completion and 
triumphant success of the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad as 
beyond all contingency, we yet deem its early construction through- j 
out the line to its western terminus to be of the highest importance, 1 
and to insure that, it is only necessary to put forth renewed exer- j 
tions; that we entertain no doubt whatever of the great value of its '' 
stock, and, confidently recommending it as a safe and valual»li' 
investment, we earnestly invite present subscribers, so far as thcv 
can, to enlarge their subscriptions, and particularly appeal to those 
who are able to aid in the enterprise and situated so as necessarily to I 
share its benefits, but who from whatever reasons have heretofore 
held back, now that its final completion is certain, to come up t<> tlio 
work and no longer refuse to share its preliminary burdens. 

Eesolved, That we recommend the appointment of committees 
for the various counties interested in this improvement to solicit 
individual subscriptions and a standing central committee in the 
county of Washington, and that such subscriptions be on the condi- 
tion that steps be taken by the company during the .present fall 
to place the road under contract through its whole length. 

Eesolved, That in the opinion of this convention, the counties 
along the line of the road will derive benefits from a subscription 
to the road in increased wages to the laborer, increased prices of the 
farming products and lands, in the increased amount of circulating 
money, in increased variety of employments, and the early and per- 
manent reduction of county taxes, so great as to render a small tem- 
porary provision for any required loan scarcely felt as a burden, 
and felt in all time after as the source of unmixed benefits. 

Eesolved, That the company shall apply its present resources fii'st 
to completing and putting in operation the first division ter- - 
minating at Salem ; secondly, the grading and masonry of remaining 
divisions to the Tennessee line; relying upon the remalinjing 
resources after the said grading and masonry shall have been com- 
pleted and upon further subscriptions to purchase the iron neces- 
tion. 

Eesolved, That we deem the uninterrupted prosecution and ear- 
liest possible completion of the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad to 
be commended by every consideration of sound policy; that we 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 503 

applaud the energetic policy which has heretofore marked its man- 
agement, and express the undoubting confidence that a persistence 
in it will insure within a period of three years from this day its 
triumphant consummation. 

A call being made for Hon. William Ballard Preston, he arose 
and took the stand and entertained a large aind attentive audience 
for two or three hours, with a speech of great force and eloquence, 
in which he showed the importance of this road, not only as a local 
or State work, but as a great national work, and as an important 
link in the great chain of railway communication that is destined to 
convey the productions of the Eastern Hemisphere to Europe, and 
to the Eastern shores of this country. 

On motion the convention adjourned until this evening at half 
past four o'clock. 

EVENING SESSION. 
The first business in order was the report of the Committee on 
Eesolutions, but before any action was taken thereon, a call was 
made on the "distinguished gentleman from Bedford," Mr. William 
M. Burwell, who entertained the convention for more than two 
hours with a masterly address in favor of the great line from New 
Orleans to Norfolk. 

The convention now took a recess for one hour. On reassembling 
at candle-light, Sidney Baxter, Esq., having appeared as a delegate 
from the city of Eichmond and being introduced to the conven- 
tion, proceeded to address it for a short time. 

After Mr. Baxter "wound up," the resolutions of the Committee 
on Business coming up in order, they were unanimously adopted. 
Thomas L. Preston, Esq., then introduced the following resolu- 
tion : 

Pcsolved,Tliat this convention highly approve of the proposed 
•jcnoral Eailroad Convention to be held at New Orleans, on the 
first Monday in January next, and request the appointment by the 
president, on its behalf, of five delegates thereto. 

Hon. William Ballard Preston, submitted the following, which 
was adopted : 

Eesolved, That a committee of seven be appointed by the chair, 
to prepare, after the adjournment of this body, an address to the 
country setting forth the character, advantages and relations, State, 
National and international, of the Southwest Virginia and East 



504 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Tennessee Eailroad, and that the same, with the resolutions 
adopted by this couventiou, be respectfully presented, on its behalf, 
to the legislatures of the two States. 

Mr. Eobertson moved that the President have leave to appoint 
the several committees required under different resolutions of the 
convention, after its adjournment, which motion was agreed to. 

The following resolution was on motion of Mr. McGaughey 
unanimously adopted : 

Eesolved, That the thanks of tliis convention are due to the 
people of Abingdon and its vicinity for their bountiful hospitality, 
and to the ladies for their countenance and support to this con- 
vention. 

The president being requested to vacate the chair. Colonel Wil- 
liam M. Burweli was requested to occupy it for a few minutes, 
when on the motion of John A. Campbell, Esq., "the thanks of the 
convention were unanimously tendered to Hon. Seth J. Lucky, for 
the dignity, ability and impartiality with which he presided over 
the deliberations of this convention." 

The president in a few brief remarks signified his appreciation 
of the honor conferred upon him, and invoked the united efforts of 
all in favor of the railroad. 

On motion the convention then adjourned sine die. 

SETH J. LUCKY, President. 

CHAS. B. COALE, 

WILLIAM K. HEISKELL, 

LEONIDAS BAUGH, 

Secretaries. 

On the 24th of November, 1851, the county court, upon motion 
of the president and directors of the Virginia and Tennessee Eail- 
road Company, appointed James Edmondson, Jolm Eakin, James 
Orr, Michael W. Withers and James K. Lowry commissioners to 
ascertain a just compensation to the owners of lands upon tlie line 
of the proposed railroad through this coimty. 

The election at which the question of voting the subscription to 
the railroad was considered was held on June 1, 1852, a consider- 
able majority of the citizens of the county voting for said sub- 
srcription. 

The advocates of the subscription held public meetings at the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 505 

six precincts in Washington county on the day of the election, at 
which meetings the following gentlemen addressed the people : 
follows : 

.-^bingdon, Colonel S. E. Goodson. 

Three Springs, C. F. Trigg. 

Jones's Mill, J. H. Earnest. 

Meek's. Dr. IST. Snead. 
. Ward's Store, A. C. Cummings. 

Fieenor's, J. A. Campbell. 

The county court of this county on the 28th of June, 1852, sub- 
scribed, on behalf of the county of Washington, $33,400 for three 
hundred and thirty-four shares of the stock of the Virginia and 
Tennessee Eailroad Company, and appointed William Y. C. White 
the agent for said county to subscribe said sum in three annual 
instalments of $11,1331/3 each, and authorized the said agent to 
issue the bonds of the county payable twenty years after date bear- 
ing six per cent, interest from date, and to sell the same for the 
purpose of paying the subscription to the railroad, the said bonds 
to bear interest from June 28, 1854. 

The railroad was completed to the town of Abingdon in the fall 
of the year 1856. 

At the February term, 1852, of the Coimty Court of Washington 
coimty, Virginia, Green, a slave, the property of Thomas Wilson, 
was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hung for the murder of 
Tom, a slave, the property of William Y. C. White, but, by a sub- 
sequent order of the court, his sentence was commuted and he was 
transported from the Commonwealth. In the spring of the same 
year, Campbell and Benjamin Smith were arrested, and, at the 
April court, were tried for rape. Campbell Smith was sentenced 
to be hung, and on the 23d of October, 1852, was executed pursuant 
to his sentence. An account of the execution is here given : 

"Campbell Smith, a free negro, was hung yesterday (Friday) 
near this place, in pursuance of the sentence pronounced upon him 
by his Honor, Judge Hopkins, at the late term of the Circuit Court 
for this county. 

The crime of which Campbell Smith was found guilty was one 
of so heinous and diabolical a character, committed as it was by 
two stout negroes, and upon a young respectable white girl, that 
but kittle symipathy was manifested for the prisoner by any one 



506 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

present. The culprit himself seemed indifferent to his fate, almost 
as much as many of those present to witness his execution. 

He was taken from the jail about twelve o'clock and followed to 
the place of execution by between 3,000 and 4,000 people. After 
arriving at the gallows, the Eev. George E. Barr, at the request of 
the prisoner, engaged in a short and appropriate religious service 
with him, having previously addressed a few remarks to the large 
crowd assembled around the gallows. The prisoner stated, through 
Mr. Barr, that he became religious six years ago, and continued 
faithful for four years, when in an evil hour, through the influence 
of intoxicating liquor, he lost the image of his Maker, and now 
found himself condemned to die for an offense which he told Mr. 
Barr, had it been committed by another, he would call as loudly 
as any in the crowd for his execution. 

He said he died at peace with all the world and trusted in the 
mercy and forgiveness of the Saviour of the world. He struggled 
for some time after the wagon was driven from under him. 

On the 35th of July, 1853, the County Court of Washington 
county, on behalf of the county, subscribed $4,000 tO' the old court- 
house and Abingdon turnpike, and appointed Jacob L^oich the 
agent of the county to make said subscription, and on the 23d day 
of October, 1854, the court subscribed $2,250 to the Abingdon and 
Pattonville turnpike, and appointed C. S. Bekem the agent of the 
county to make the subscription. 

At this time in our history the attention of our public men 
was, to a great extent, directed to the internal improvement of 
the country, to the building of turnpikes, MacAdam roads and rail- 
roads. 

At the August term, 1853, of the County Court of this county, 
Peter C. Johnson, A. C. Cummings, I. A. McQuown, Andrew 
Edmondson and Washington Bishop were appointed commissioners 
to run and mark the boundary line between the counties of Wash- 
ington and Grayson, and in the month of October these commission- 
ers made their report, which was received and recorded on the 29th 
day of November, 1853. 

Among the public improvements that attracted the attention of 
the people of Southwest Virginia, and the one that was of greater 
importance to this section of Virginia than all others combined, was 
the SouthM^estern Turnpike road. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 507 

On the 38tli of January, 184G, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia incorporated the Southwestern Turnpike road, which road was 
to be a MacAdamized road from Salem, Virginia, by the way of 
Christiansbiirg, Newbern, Wytlieville, Marion and Abingdon to the 
Tennessee line, and appropriated seventy-five thousand dollars to 
carry into effect the object of the act. 

The said road was to be graded to a width not less than twenty- 
four feet, and to be MacAdamized to a width not less than twenty- 
two feet. 

This act provided for the condemnation of the lands over which 
the road was to pass, said road to be, at no point, on a grade 
exceeding three degrees. 

An engineer, who was also to be superintendent of the road, was 
to be selected by the president and directors of said company, and 
it was made the duty of the engineer to make all contracts for the 
opening and constructing of said road, erecting bridges and what- 
ever else was necessary for finishing the same, but all such con- 
tracts were to be approved by the president and directors of said 
company. 

The construction of this road was begun during the same year 
and the work upon the road was carried on with commendable 
speed until the year 1848. 

In January of this year, the road had been completed as far 
as Wytheville, and there was an urgent demand for its immediate 
completion to the Tennessee line, by the citizens living in the coun- 
ties of Smyth, Wythe, Washington and Scott, and the General 
Assembly on the 17th of January, 1848, appropriated the sum of 
three hundred thousand dollars to complete said road, not exceed- 
ing seventy-five thousand dollars of said sum to be cxpeudocl in 
any one year. 

The superintendent and engineer of the Southwestern Turnpike 
let the contract from Wytheville west to the Tennessee line to 
William L. Lewis, and this contract was approved by the president 
and directors of said company in the fall of the year 1848. At the 
fall session of the General Assembly in the year 1848, and, on tlie 
day of the approval of said contract as above stated, E. "R. Watson, 
a member of the General Assembly from Albemarle county, intro- 
duced a resolution in the Legislature to suspend the work upon tlie 
Southwestern road west of Wythovillo. A laroe majority of the 



508 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Legislature were in favor of the resolution, but in view of the fact 
that the Board of Public Works had signed a contract for the con- 
struction of this road, the resolution was defeated and work was 
continued upon the road. 

Fifty thousand dollars of the public money appropriated for the 
construction of this road was paid to William L. Lewis, the con- 
tractor, but for some reason, which cannot now be explained, the 
work of constructing said road was delayed, and but little progress 
was made until the year 1851. 

The road was surveyed and located to the Tennessee line by the 
spring of 1850. 

By an Act of the Assembly adopted on the 29th of March, 1851, 
it was provided that unless William L. Lewis, the contractor, 
should complete a section of the road twenty miles west of Wythe- 
ville by the first day of April, 1851, it should be the duty of the 
Board of Public Works within ninety days thereafter to take legal 
steps upon the bond of the said Lewis and his sureties to recover 
damages for his default, with the proviso that the sureties of the 
said Lewis might become undertakers to complete the twenty miles 
of road according to the tenor of the said contract, and in that 
case action on the bond of the said Lewis should be suspended for 
one year. 

This same Act provided that, should the said William L. Lewis, 
abandon or forfeit any other portion of his contract for constructing 
the said road to the Tennessee line, the Board of Public Works 
were directed and instructed to relet said road to the sureties of the 
said William L. Lewis. And in the event the said sureties did not 
become the undertakers of said road under this act, the Board of 
Public Works should not give the said Lewis any further time to 
complete his contract, but should, so soon as any part of his con- 
tract for constructing said road is abandoned or forfeited, proceed 
forthwith to relet the same in sections of not more than five miles. 

As a result of this act, Lewis, or his sureties, completed said 
MacAdamized road as far west as Seven-Mile Ford in Smyth county,, 
Virginia. 

Such was the condition of affairs on the 5th day of April, 1851, 
at which time a resolution was offered by Colonel Hopkins, direct- 
iiDg the Board of Public Works to relet said road,, to which resolu-. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 509 

tioii Mr. StovalJ, a member of the Legisktui'e, offered the following 
substitute : 

"Eesolved, by the General Assembly, That the Board of i'ublic 
Works be and they are hereby authorized and required to suspend 
the further construction of the Southwestern Turnpike road, except 
so much as may be necessary to finish any intermediate sections 
between the eastern part of said road which has been finished, and 
the extreme western part of said road upon which the contractors 
may have commenced work." 

This substitute was eloquently and energetically opposed hy Col- 
onels Hopkins and Imboden, but was adopted by a vote of fifty-two 
to forty-four, and the friends of the road were unable to obtain 
a reconsideration of the vote. 

A number of unsuccessful efforts were made by the friends of 
this road to have work on the same resumed, but without success. 

The newspapers of Abingdon charged that Governor Johnson 
and the Board of Public Works were responsible for the suspension 
of work upon this road, and Governor Floyd was severely censured 
for his, course in the matter. The road was never completed west 
of Seven-Mile Ford, and while Southwest Virginia and Wash- 
ington county have had to bear their portion of the great public 
debt created for public improvements previous to 1860, they have 
received no benefit therefrom. 

The failure to complete this road has been attributed to different 
causes, among the numb e^|^i ring : 

First. The anticipated construction of the Virginia and Tennes- 
see Eailroad. 

Second. The principles actuating Governor Johnson and his 
advisers, which principles were opposed to internal improvements 
by the Commonwealth and favored a strict construction of the 
Constitution of the Commonwealth. 

Third. The indisposition of the reproscntatives from Eastern 
Virginia to interest themselves in tlie welfare of Western Virginia. 

It will be nothing more than an act of justice to this section of 
Virginia, if the General Assembly of Virginia should yet complete 
this road. 

In the year 1855 the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad Company 
decided to build a branch railway from Glade Spring to Saltville, 
to be k-nown as the Saltworks Branch, and on the 27th day of 



510 Southwest Virginia, 17JfG-178d. 

February, on motion of the railroad company, the county court 
appointed William A. Preston, Lewis F. Cosby, Isaac Home, James 
Orr and Pleasant Smith commissioners for the purpose of ascer- 
taining a just compensation to the owners of the lands through] 
which the Saltworks Branch would pass. This road was built 
shortly thereafter and the town of Glade Spring had its beginning. 
About this time, at the instance of John M. Preston, a number 
of citizens contributed a sum ol money sufficient to MacAdamize the 
main road leading east from Abingdon to near the railroad crossing 
at McConnell's Switch. Some evidence of this work is still to be 
seen. 

On the 23d of July, 1855, the county court of this county, upon 
receipt of information of the death of Samuel Logan, who had for 
many years been the very efficient attorney for 
the Commonwealth in this county, adopted the 
following resolutions : 

"Resolved, That in the removal from amongst 
us of Samuel Logan by an all-wise Providence, 
this court has been deprived of an able and effi- 
( lent ofHcer, the members of the bar of a courte- 
ous and gentlemanly practitioner, the commu- 
nity of a laborious, able and well-informed law- 
yer, and his family of a kind and indulgent hus- 
Samuel Logan. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^ 

"Resolved, That the court, its oflUiltiB and the members of the 
bar extend their warmest sympathies to the bereaved wddow and 
children of the deceased in this most afflicting dispensation of Di- 
vine Providence. 

"Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the minutes 
of the court, and that tlio clerk furnish a copy thereof to Mrs. 
Logan, and also to each of the newspapers of Abingdon for pub» 
lication." 

Nothing of any importance occurred until ]Srov(>nil)er, 1858, at 
which time John S. j\Iosby, who had settled in the town of Good- 
son, qualified to practice law in the courts of this county. 

The abolition sentiment in the meantime was fast obtaining 
prominence tliroughout the Union, and by the fall of the year 1860 
excitement was at fever heat, and the feeling between the sec- 
tions had grown to such an extent that war was inevitable. 




Washiiir/ion Couniij, 1777-1S70. 511 

The Doniocratie Coinention held in this year for the purpose 
of nominating a candidate for President was not liarmoniout:-^ and 
as a result three candidates for President were nominated by three 
difl'erent conventions held by the Democratic party, viz., John 0. 
Breckenridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas, while Abra- 
ham Lincoln was nominated by the Eepnblican party. 

The campaign preceding the election was exceedingly bitter, and 
the election resulted in favor of Lincoln and the Republican party. 
The effect of the election of Lincoln was to create great excite- 
ment throughout the South and advocates of secession, peaceable, 
if possible, by force, if necessary, were heard and applauded 
throughout the Southern States; but such were not the senti- 
ments of the people of Washington county. 

Four hundred patriots from the county of Washington had »>- 
sisted in the erection of the ITnion. Their descendants long hesi- 
tated before lending their assistance to any movement that had for 
its object the dissolution of that Union and they did not give their 
consent nor lend their assistance to the movement until Presi- 
dent Lincoln called upon the States for seventy-five thousand men 
to invade and overcome the Southern country. 

It must not be understood from what is here stated that the peo- 
ple of this county were unanimous in their opposition to secession, 
for it is a fact that numbers of our citizens were strong advocates 
of secession from the beginning. 

War Between the States— 1861-1805. 
In the month of December, 18G0, or January, 1861, a volunteer 
company was organized in Abingdon and was Imown as the Wash- 
ington Mounted Riflemen, and the county court of this county, 
on the 29th of January, 18G1, entered an order permitting tliis 
company to use and occupy the rooms on the third floor of the 
courthouse as an armory, and from this time on, during the spring 
and summer of the year 1S(;1, the sole theme of conversation was 
the organization of companies of volunteers and preparations I'oi- 
war. 

At the election for meml)ers of tlve General Assembly in tlie year 
1859 George W. IIo])kins and Jacob Lynch were elected to the 
Assembly from Washington covmty, and Ben Rush Floyd, of the 
county of Wythe, was elected to the Senate from this district, but 
Jacob Lynch soon thereafter became president of the Exchange 



512 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-17S6. 

Bank of Abingdon, Va., resigned his seat in the Assembly, and 
Dr. A. E. Preston was elected to fill the vacancy. 

The one subject that engrossed the Assembly at its meeting in 
the year 1860-1861 was the secession of the Southern States from 
the Union, and on the 14th of January, 1861, the General As- 
sembly called a convention and directed that an election be held 
on the 4th day of February, 1861, to select delegates tO' the con- 
vention thus called. 

This Act directed that the sense of the qualified voters be taken 
as to whether any action of said convention dissolving the connec- 
tion of the State with the Federal Union or changing the organic 
laws of the State should be submitted to the people for ratification 
or rejection. In other words, the Legislature, by submitting to 
the voters at this time the last question stated, did so for the pur- 
pose of securing their ratification of the action of this convention 
in advance of any action by the convention. 

The candidates for the position of delegates to this convention 
from Washington county were: John A. Campbell and Eobert E. 
Grant opposed to secession, and William Y. C. White for seces- 
sion. The result of the election held on the 4th of February, 1861, 
was an overwhelming triumph for Campbell and Grant, the vote 
in this county being as follows : 

WASHINGTON COUNTY— Official. 

WAIT-A-BIT. SECESSION. 

Precincts. Campbell. Grant. White. Floyd. Ref. No Ref. 

Courthouse 307 236 154 79 209 92 

Clark's Mills 11 9 13 13 10 13 

Davis' 36 34 18 16 35 17 

Waterman's 121 113 33 30 120 27 

Three Springs 173 169 61 60 169 60 

Gobble's 83 83 10 9 92 1 

Craig's Mill 125 125 4 21 127 1 

Worley's 103 92 13 00 105 00 

Williams' , 48 26 28 4 47 6 

Morell's 48 39 39 37 62 14 

Fullen's 58 54 32 38 59 34 

Matt Clark's 56 19 69 90 50 68 

Kelley's 51 50 33 33 52 32 

DeBusk's 75 74 17 18 69 19 

Arch. Orr's 64 64 41 39 61 43 

Miller's 122 119 34 37 119 31 

Good Hope 9 7 2 1 9 1 

Green Spring 65 62 21 23 66 17 

1555 1375 622 529 1551 476 



'Washington County, 1777-1870. 6iS 

While Governor Floyd was not a candidate, he was voted for 
in this election, being a strong advocate of secession, and Secretary 
•of War in the cabinet of President Buchanan. 

It will be observed from an inspection of the returns from this 
election that the people of the comity were overwhelmingly op- 
posed to secession and to permitting the convention to proclaim 
its action without referring the same to the people. 

At this time South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama 
and Georgia had adopted ordinances of secession, and excitement 
was at fever heat. 

At the February court following this election a tremendous 
crowd of people were in Abingdon, and an incident occurred that 
might, under other circumstances, have definitely fixed the senti- 
ment of the people of tliis county against secession and have placed 
this section within the State of West Virginia. 

A few over-zealous advocates of secession on the morning of the 
day in question obtained a Confederate flag and placed it upon a 
rope stretched across Main street from the residence of John D. 
Mitchell to what is known as the White House, on the south side 
of the street. 

When the presence of this flag was observed it greatly enraged 
the citizens of the county who were opposed to secession, and Wil- 
liam B. Clark,* one of the best and bravest men this county has 
ever produced, proposed to the anti-secession men present that 
they immediately tear down what he termed "that d — d rag," say- 
ing, "Boys, it is not the flag of our fathers," and immediately pro- 
ceeded to execute his threat. 

At the same time the advocates of secession appeared, and war 
seemed imminent, but by the advice and counsel of Joseph T. 
Campbell, Judge Campbell, Charles S. Bekem, and others the dis- 
turbance was quelled. 

It is proper to be stated at this point that as soon as Virginia 
had seceded from the Union and the homes of our people were 
threatened with invasion, the men who that day proposed to tear 
down the Confederate flag were the first to enlist in the service of 
their State, were the bravest in battle and the last to surrender, 
William B. Clark himself dying in the service of his country. 



•Grandson of James Hillan. who fought at King's mountain. 



514 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

The convention assembled in the city of Richmond o^n the 13th 
day of February, 1861, and on tlie 17th of April, 1861, by a vote 
of 81 to 51, adopted an ordinance to repeal the ratification of the 
Constitution of the United States by the State of Virginia, and 
to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitu- 
tion. Tliis act of the convention was submitted to the people for 
ratification at an election held on the fourth Thursday of May, 
1861, at which election the ordinance of secession was ratified. 
Washingion county voted for the ratification by an overwhelming 
majority. On the IStli of June, 1861, the convention agreed to a 
permanent Constitution for the State, but this Constitution, when 
submitted toi the people, was rejected by a small majority, and the 
Constitution of 1850 remained the fundamental law of the State. 

The convention that adopted the ordinance of secession elected 
five gentlemen to represent Virginia in the Confederate Congress, 
then in session at Montgomery, Alabama, Judge Waller R. Staples 
being the representative from this section of Virginia. 

While the delegates from Washington county sent to Richmond 
were opposed to secession, they afterwards voted in favor of the 
ordinance of secession in view of the course pursued by President 
Lincoln and his cabinet. 

In the month of March President Jefferson Davis formed his 
cabinet, which was coniirmed by the Senate of the Confederate 
States, and was composed of the following gentlemen: Robert 
Toombs, C. C. Memminger, L. P. Walker, S. R. Mallory, J. H. 
Reagan and J. P. Benjamin. 

On the 24th of December, 1860, the county court of Washington 
county, upon motion of the president and directors of the Virginia 
and Kentucky Railroad Company, appointed James L. Davis, L. 
L. Waterman, John Gobble, Roland T. Legard and William Fields 
commissioners to ascertain a just compensation to a number of 
land owners through whose land said road was proposed to be 
constructed, and these commissioners made their report to the 
county court on the 24th of February, 1861. This was the incep- 
tion of the efforts that resulted in the building of the Virginia 
and Southwestern railroad from Bristol to Big Stbne Gap. 

At the January term of the county court in 1861 the court gave 
permission to Thaddeus Harris, Samuel Merchant, Barbary Bev- 
erly and Senah Richmiond, free persons of color, to remain in the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 515 

county for the space of ninety days for the purpose of settling 
their business, the authoTities having theretofore required all free 
persons of color to leave the county, but, notwithstanding this pro- 
vision, many free persons of color remained in the county througli- 
out the entire war by having some responsible white man stand 
security for their good behavior. 

At the April term of the court of this county the sum of fifteen 
thousand dollars was voted by the coirnty court for the purpose of 
securing necessary supplies for the support, equipment and arming 
of the vohmteer companies of the county, which companies were at 
that time being formed, and James K. Gibson, William Y. C. 
White, John W. Johnson, T. G. McConnell, James C. Green way 
and Thomas S. Stuart were appointed a committee and autho- 
rized to borrow said money and to issue the bonds of the county foT 
the same, said bonds to be paid in one, two and three years, or upon 
longer time if said committee should think proper. 

At the May term of the county court the court adopted a plan to 
police the county for the protection of the citizens, the order of 
the court being as follows : 

1st. The magistracy of this county shall constitute a vigilance 
committee, who shall be always on the alert and at all times more 
prompt and active than ever in the performance of their duties 
under the law in the protection of the rights and interests of the 
citizens. 

2d. The county court sliall have control over all measures of 
home protection and defence. 

3d. There shall be a central vigilance committee in each dis- 
trict, composed of four magistrates and two other discreet gen- 
tlemen, to be appointed by the court within tlie bounds of every 
district. This committee shall have power to direct and dispense 
all measures of protection and defence within the sphere of their 
actions, and make a report in writing at least once a montli to 
tJie county court of all matters worthy of note. 

4th. There shall be one or more volunteer companies of not 
less than forty men within eacli district to be commanded by a cap- 
tain and two lieutenants and four sergeants, respectively, which 
officers shall be selected by the men of the com])anies and confirmed 
by the court. Each man shnll be ariiu'd with bis own rifle, musket 
or shot-gun, or with arms of like character, loaned or furaished 



516 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

him by the citizens of each district from the house, stock or lands 
or otherwise. In like manner he to furnish or have procured to 
him a suflBciency of ammunition. The companies shall be divided 
into two platoons, extending from the center to the extremities of 
the district as nearly as practicable, and shall act as a general pa- 
trol witliin the proper bounds and under their proper officers 
at least once a week, performing alternate turns of duty. The 
company, or companies, of the district shall assemble semi-monthly 
at some central point, under the command of the captain, for the 
purpose of drill and instruction. At these meetings a report of 
the general operations of the company, and especially the condi- 
tion of things within the districts as regards the peace, security 
and good order of the ctiizens, shall be made to the captain, and by 
him reduced to writing and forwarded to the central committee. 

5th. The district committee shall have power to order out, when 
in their opinion deemed necessary, an additional police to act in- 
dependently of, or in conjunction with, the armed police, 

6th. The needy families of all the volunteers absent in the ser- 
vice of the State shall be provided for, and with tliis view the 
magistrates of each district shall be appointed by the court a com- 
mittee whose duty it will be to inquire into the condition and ne- 
cessities of said families, and provide at once for the same, if neces- 
sary, and report in writing to the next and every succeeding county 
court, and thereupon the proper allowance will be made. 

7th, In the event of invasion or for the purpose of suppressing 
insurrections within the county, this court will at once proceed to 
appoint a field officer, who shall be empowered to call out and 
command the voluntary forces provided for, or so much thereof 
as may in his opinion be deemed necessary for the purpose of re- 
pelling such invasions or suppressing such insurrection. 

The court then proceeded to the appointment of the additional 
committee under the third clause, and thereupon John L. Brad- 
ley and Jacob Neff were appointed in district No. 1 ; Henry Eoberts 
and Francis Preston, in district No. 2; John Gobble and A, M, 
Apling, in district No. 3 ; Jeriel D. Linder and John J. Scott, in 
district No. 4; Alex, G. Thompson and David M. Stuart, in dis- 
trict No. 5; Benj. K. Buchanan and Bobert B. Edmondson, in 
district No. 6: Andrew Edmondson and James Kelly, in district 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 517 

No. 7; Thomas M. Preston and John Eakin, in district No. 8; 
Eobert L. Berry and Lilburn 0. Byars, in district No. 9. 

The court tlien unanimously elected James T. Preston colonel 
or field officer under the seventh clause. 

A number of muskets had been furnished the county by the 
State authorities early in the year, and had been distributed 
throughout the county, but in such a manner as to render them of 
littlo value to the authorities, and at the May term of the court 
the sheriff of the county was directed to collect and deposit them 
in Abingdon. 

During the spring and summer of 1861 ten companies were or- 
ganized in Washington county, which were officered as follows : 

The Washington Mounted Eifles — Captain William E. Jones. 

The Mountain Boys — Captain William White. 

The Glade Spring Eifles — Captain E. P. Carson. 

Washington Independents — Captain Dr. James L. White. 

Company B, Forty-eighth Virginia Eegiment — Captain Milton 
White. 

Company I, Forty-eighth Virginia Eegiment — Captain James 
C, Campbell. 

Company H, Thirty-seventh Virginia Eegiment — Ca^itain Eobert 
E. Grant. 

Goodson Eifie Guards — Captain John F. Terry. 

Floyd Blues — Captain David C. Dunn. 

Company F, Forty-eighth Virginia Eegiment — Captain D. A. P. 
Campbell. 

The Washington Mounted Eifles were sent to First Virginia Cav- 
alry, Stuart's command, while the companies of Captains Terry, Car- 
son, Grant, James L. White and William White formed a part of the 
Thirty-seventh regiment, commanded by Colonel Samuel V. Fulker- 
son, and the companies officered by D. A. P. Campbell, James C. 
Campbell and Milton White formed a part of the Forty-eighth regi- 
ment, commanded by Colonel John A. Campbell, of Abingdon, and 
D.C.Dunn's company formed a part of Floyd's Brigade. Captain A. 
C. Cummings was commissioned colonel by a committee composed 
of Governor Letcher, Judge Allen and Francis Smith, in the 
month of May, 1861, and was ordered to report at once to General 
Jackson at Harper's Ferry, which he did, and was there assigned 
to the command of the Second regiment, afterwards the Tenth Vir- 



518 Southwest Virginia, 171,6-1786. 

giuia regiment, but was soon thereafter placed in command of the 
Thirty-third Virginia regiment. 

At the June term of the county court Thomas G. McConnell 
was app-ointed by the court to visit all the vohmteer companies 
from this county then in the ser^dce of the State or thereafter to 
be formed, and to provide for their \vants out of any money that 
might be in the hands of the committee appointed by the court at the 
April term. 

About this time Charles Eckerbusch was arrested and committed 
to jail upon the suspicion that he was not true to the institutions 
of the South, but was discharged by the court upon his taking 
the following oaths, to-wit : 

"I declare mj^self a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 
and solemnly swear that 1 will be faithful and true to the said 
Commonwealth, and will support the Constitution thereof sO' long 
as I continue to be a citizen thereof, so help me God." 

"I do solemnly swear that I will obey all orders of the legally 
constituted authorities of the State of Virginia and of the Confed- 
erate States, and that I will in no wise give aid and comfort to 
the enemies of the State or Confederate States either directly or in- 
directly, so help me God." 

On Sunday night, September 1, 18G1, at about 10 o'clock a col- 
lision occurred on the railroad, about one mile west of Abingdon, 
between trains loaded with troops. The first train, carrying a part 
of the second regiment of tlie Polish Brigade from Louisiana, was 
ascending the grade west of the depot when a shackle pin broke, 
and the cars descended to the level at the bridge over Wolf creek. 
At this time the second train, heavily loaded with soldiers, ran^ 
into the front section at the bridge, the result being one soldier 
killed and seventGcn Avounded, one of the ^A-ounded soldiers after- 
wards d3'ing. The wounded soldiers were removed to the houses 
of the Eev. James McChain, Messrs. T. G. McConnell, J. M. Eopp, 
and Judge S. V. Fulkerson, and were attended by Drs. Preston, 
Barr, Heiskell and Pitts. 

On the 28th of October, 1861, the county court of this county 
appropriated an additional sum of $2,500 for the purpose of sup- 
plying the volunteers of this county in the service of the Confed- 
erate States, and directed the committee theretofore appointed to 
borrow said sum of money and apply it to the purposes mentioned. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 519 

At the same term of the court William B. Dickcnsoii was ap- 
pointed quartermaster for tlie eastern and John M. Hamilton for 
the western district of the county, and they were directed to aid 
the committee appointed by the court in applying the sums above 
voted to the purposes directed. 

On Thursday, Noivember 6, 1861, an election was held through- 
out the Confederate States for President, Vice-President and mem- 
bers O'f Congress. Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens had 
no opposition for the offices of President and Vice-President of 
the Confederate States of America, but in this district the Hon. 
Walter Preston, of Abingdon, and the Hon. Fayette McMullen, of 
Scott count}^ were opposing candidates. 

Polls were opened at all the voting precincts in the county, and, 
in addition thereto, at Camp Dickenson, Camp Cooper and at the 
Confederate camp at Abingdon, soldiers being stationed in this 
county at the places mentioned. 

Preston was elected a member of the Confederate Congress by a 
considerable majority. 

On the 25th of March, 18G3, the sheriff and his deputies and the 
commissioners of the revenue were directed to enroll, as soon as 
possible, all able-bodied free negroes in the county and report the 
same to the clerk of the court. 

By this time the families of the absent soldiers were beginning 
to feel the burden of the war, and a number of the wealthier citi- 
zens of the county l\v voluntary contributions undertook to relieve 
their situation. The following citizens contributed the sums set 
opposite their names to this cause : 

1863. April 28. Henry Preston, $ 300 00 

1862. April 38. Stuart, Buchanan & Co., 1,000 00 

1862. Dec. 22. Mrs. Wyndham Robertson 100 00 

1863. Oct. 26. Wyndham Pobertson, 500 00 

The General Assembly of Virginia, on tl'.e 29th of March, 1862. 

passed an Act authorizing the counties to issue notes of less denomi- 
nation than five dollars, and the county coui't of tliis county, on 
the 28th of .April, 1862, deciding to avail itself of the advantages 
of this law, appointed a committee, consisting of James K. Gibson, 
Thomas G. McConnell and William King Heiskell, to ascertain 
and report to the court. 

First. A design for said notes. 



520 



Southiuest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 



Second. Whether a supply of suitable paper could be procured 
and on what terms. 

Third. The terms upon which said notes could be printed and 
the amount and denomination of the notes necessary to be issued. 

This committee on the following day made their report, which 
report was filed, and, upon consideration of said report, the county 
court ordered that this county issue $15,000 of these notes of the 
following denominations and amounts : 

Nine thousand ten-cent notes. 
^ Six thousand fifteen-cent notes. 

Eighteen thousand twenty-five-eent notes. 

Three thO'Usand four hundred and fifty one-dollar notes. 

Six thousand fifty-cent notes. 

Three thousand seventy-five-cent notes. 

Tlie form of said notes as prescribed by tlie court is shown by 
the facsimile of a one-dollar note and a twenty-five-cont note. 




Washington County, 1777-1S70. 521 

John Gr. Kreger, clerk, whose name appears to said notes, was 
required by the court to issue the same as soon as practicable, and 
was appointed treasurer for the purpose of exchanging said notes 
for other funds to pay the indebtedness of the county. 

The court, on the 24th of June, directed the clerk not to issue 
the ten-cent notes as provided for by their former order, but to 
issue twenty-one thousand six hundred notes of the denomina- 
tion of twenty-five cents instead of eighteen thousand as provided 
by their former order, and John G. Kreger, the clerk, on the 24th 
of February, 1863, was allowed one thousand dollars for issuing 
and redeeming said notes. 

On Tuesday, the 4th of April, 1862, a company of Confederate 
soldiers was organized in Abingdon, to which was given the name 
of the Abingdon Confederates. This company was officered as 
follows : 

Captain, William L, Hunter. 

First Lieutenant, Milton W. Humes. 

Second Lieutenant, William McChesney. 

Third Lieutenant, James H. Smith. 

This was Company A, and formed a part of the Sixty-third Eegi- 
ment, Virginia Volunteers. 

On the 11th day of April, 1862, the Methodist Protestant church 
and the Protestant Episcopal church of Abingdon delivered the 
bells used by the respective churches tO' the ordinance department 
of the Confederate States for use in manufacturing cannon, and 
on the 25th of April of the same year the Presbyterian and Metho- 
dist Episcopal churches. South, performed a like service. 

In the spring of the year 1862, the armies of the Confederate 
States were reorganized, and upon the reorganization of the Thirty- 
seventh and Forty-eighth regiments Colonels Fulkerson and Camp- 
bell, as well as Lieutenant- Colonels Carson and Garnett, were re- 
elected. Major Williams was re-elected in the Thirty-seventh, and 
Captain James C. Campbell, of Abingdou. suceopdcd Major Stuart 
in the Forty-eighth regiment. 

In the companies there was a considerable change as follows: 

Captain Grant was succeeded by Sergeant DufF. 

Captain William White was succeeded by Lieutenant R. P. Mor- 
rison. 

Captain James L. White was succeeded by Captain James Vance 



523 Southwest Virgima, 1746-1786. 

and Captain \'ance was succeeded by Sergeant T. M. Gobble. 
Captain Milton White was succeeded by Lieutenant W. Y. C. 
Ilannum. Captain D. A. P. Campljoll was succeeded by Lieu- 
tenant ^Y. T. Greenway. 

At the October term of tlie county court, in the year, 1802, the 
court appointed agents in the several magisterial districts of this 
county to solicit subscriptions in their districts of articles of cloth- 
ing, shoes, etc., for the use of the volunteers in the service of the 
Confederacy. 

At this time a great scarcity of salt prevailed in the county as 
a result of the State authorities taking charge of the salt works, 
and the county court appointed Jolm N. Humes a committee to 
correspond with Governor Letcher and seek to have the contract 
of Stuart, Ikichanan & Company, made with the county autliori- 
ties in July of this year, enforced, but the court obtained no relief 
in this particular. 

On the 27th of June, 18(;2. Colonel Samuel X. Fulkerson. of the 
Thirty-seventh Eegiment, was mortally wounded near Eichmond on 
the second day of the great battle before Eichmond, and died the 
next day. Upon the receipt of the news of his death, a public meet- 
ing was held at the courthouse of this county for the purpose of 
offering a tribute of resjjcct to the memory of the deceased. 

"On motion, J. N. Humes, Esq., was called to the chair, and 
William King Heiskell appointed secretary. 

The object of the meeting was explained by Adjutant Joseph T. 
(*am]i1-)ell in brief but appropriate remarks, and, on his motion, a 
committee of ten gentlemen was appointed as an escort of honor to 
meet the remains at ^^'ytheville. The following gentlemen were 
appointed: Adjutant J. T. Campbell, Hon. Walter Preston, Wil- 
liam King Heiskell, Colonel A. C. Cummings, Thomas G. McCon- 
nell, G. V. Litchfield, Jr., William Y. C. White, James C. Green- 
way, J. G. Kreger and D. j\L Stuart." 

This committee met the remains of Colonel Fulkerson at Wythe- 
ville and accompanied the same to Abingdon. 

Colonel Fulkerson, at the time of his death, was judge of the 
Seventeenth Circuit of the Superior Court of Law and Chancery, 
and soon thereafter an election was held in this circuit to fill the 
vacancy, at which election John A.. Campbell, John W. Johnson, 
"William B. Aston and W. P. Cecill, were opposing candidates.. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 523 

Judge Campbell was elected by a considerable majority and served 
until removed by the military authorities of tlie United States in 
the year 18G9. 

In May, 1862, President Jefferson Davis issued his proclamation 
setting apart the iBth day of :\Iay, 1862, as a day of fasting, humil- 
iation and prayer, and, on the da}- appointed, the several congre- 
gations of the town united in regular services at the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, at eleven o'clock in the morning, and at 
the Methodist Protestant Church at four o'clock in the evening. 

On the 4th day of October, 1862, in the lower end of this county, 
on the farm of Colonel John Preston, William McDaniel, a very 
respectable citizen was brutally murdered by Jerry and Jim, two 
negroes, the property of James xlllen, of Tennessee. These negroes 
had left their homes and were scoating in the woods, with a lot of 
stolen property in their possession, when they observed McDaniel 
approaching. After meeting McDaniel and engaging in a conver- 
sation with him, as to what tliey were doing there, and where they 
were going, Jack, one of the negroes, struck and seriously wounded 
McDaniel, and tlie negroes hid his body until night camo on and 
then returned and carried it to the creek and placed it therein. 
They were tried, and Jim and Jerry were sentenced to be hung on 
the 23d of January, 1863, on which day they were executed pur- 
suant tO' the sentence of the court. 

The Abingdon paper in describing the scene in Abingdon on that 
day says: 

"At an early hour the people began to pour into town from the 
farthest limits of this and adjoining counties, and from the gorges 
and coves of the mountains. They came by railroad, in wagons, 
on horses and mules, and hundreds came wading u]i to their knees 
in mud. Some rode bare-back, others on sheep-skins, and again 
others with halters and blind bridles. Little boys and negroes gal- 
loped into town almost breathless, bespattered with nnul and wild 
with excitement to see two negroes choked to death. Rut stranger 
still was it to see probably not less than a thousand hearty, robust 
young men jostling and elbowing their way through iho dcnP(> 
mass of humanity towards the field where the scene was to l)e 
enacted ; and when we saw them worlcing and twisting their tor- 
tuous way like so many eels in the mud. we wondered if they 
^Vould have been as eager and as hurried if there had been a squad 



524 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

of Yankees in that direction. If Stonewall Jackson had them, he 
would cross the Potomac in a week." 

This execution took place in the Academy field west of Abingdon 
and was the last execution of any person in this county for any 
offense. 

The Provost-Marshal at Abingdon at this time was Colonel 
John H. Earnest. 

In October of this year President Lincoln issued his proclama- 
tion emancipating all negroes after the first day of January, 1863, 
which information greatly excited the slave owners of the county. 

Some idea of the conditions existing during this time may be 
gathered from a diary kept by a very aged citizen of Abingdon, 
from the summer of 1861 to the fall of 1862, which diary is here 
given, 

"1861. July 1st. The evening train had about 150 troops; 100 
from Arkansas, the balance from Georgia, remnants of companies 
gone on. 

"1861. July 2d. At dark I saw the comet for the first time, but 
it was seen the night before by others. It is the largest I have ever 
seen; it was high up north of west, at ten o'clock it was large, the 
tail was broad and appeared to be 250 feet long, the body of it 
appeared the size of a common hat. 

"1861. July 3d. The evening train had 200 Arkansas troops. 

"1861. July 4th. This day eighty-five years ago since the Decla- 
ration of Independence of the old U. S. It's gone, and to-day there 
is another declaration going on for independence, the South against 
the North, and it must and will end the same way the first declara- 
tion did against old England. The South must be independent 
of the iSTorth, her cause is more just, etc. In 1775 there were two 
parties, one for immediate independence from old England, the 
other was for no separation from the mother country, as they called 
it. But independence was declared on the 4th of July, 1776. The 
party that "went for independence of the mother country and fought 
for it and got it was called Whigs and the party against indepen- 
dence was the Tory party and fought against it, but was defeated ; 
yet they remained Tories, for I can remember hearing one of them 
in Wythe county when he got drunk, "halloo" for King George, &c. 
The present revolution for independence and a separation from 
Northern tyrants, or rather Northern Goths and vandals, against 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 535 

Southern rights is tenfold greater than the first revolution, and in 
all respects like it, as to the parties Whig and Tory. But I believe 
it will end just like the first revolution. 

"1861. July 4th. Cold all day. The evening train took Captain 
David Campbell Dunn's company to General Floyd's Brigade at 
Wytheville, seventy-eight men and boys. 

"1861. July 16th. To-day awful news from General Garnett's 
command at Beverly, Eandolph county. Fulkerson's regiment is 
part of it. Colonel Fulkerson's regiment is composed of five com- 
panies from Abingdon and county, two from Eussell, one from 
Davis and one company from Lee county. The news is that all are 
killed and taken and that General Garnett is killed. 

"1861. July 23d. N"ews this morning of a great battle fought on 
the 21st, last Sunday, at Manassas, between the Southern forces 
and Lincoln's Northern or black army, in which the latter lost 
25,000 men killed, the South 15,000. If this be true it beats 
Waterloo, for the South had only 60,000, while the North had 
95,000. 

"1861. July 26th. Colonel John A. Campbell's regiment left 
for Staunton to-day, ten companies, three companies from Wash- 
ington county, nine companies of old Washington coimty now in 
the field. Colonel Campbell has Captain White's and David Camp- 
bell's and J. C. Campbell's companies. 

"1861. August 31. This morning at five o'clock the house trem- 
bled and shook, the window sash rattled so much that it awakened 
all, the rocking of the house awakened me. I never felt such a 
sensation before, the house appeared to be standing on something, 
the house would quiver and rattle like it would fall. 

"1861. September 1st. Two trains at ten o'clock with 1,100 
troops, one company of eighty-two from Mobile, Alabama, and the 
balance from New Orleans, mashed up at the bridge west of 
Abingdon depot, killing one and wounding twenty odd, the front 
engine with the conductor cut loose and went on towards Lynch- 
burg, the other engine was mashed up in the wreck, but the engineer 
and conductor left rather suspiciously. 

"September 3d. The soldier scalded in the mash up died last 

night. 

"1861. September 21st. John M. Preston died this morning at 

Seven-Mile Ford. 



526 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

"ISGl. September 2-ith. Charles G. Preston, son of F. H. Pres- 
ton, (lied on the 15th, He belonged to the Greenbrier Cavalry, was 
in the retreat from Laurel Hill in July last when General Garnett 
was killed. 

"18G1. September 28tli. No trains from the East yesterday, no 
mail, the rivers were higher yesterday than any one recollects, 
houses were taken off where never known before. The whole roof 
of one house was left on the bank of the river below Mr, Cole's 
on the Middle Fork. The Holston river was six feet higher than 
ever known before. 

"18G1. October 1st. Part of a company of horse got here last 
evening from Kentucky. 

"1861. October 3d. Hon. John C. Breckenridge and William 
Preston, of Kentucky, got to x\bingdon to-day. 

"1861. October 14th. A company of horse, 111 from Kentucky 
by way of Pound Gap, got here this evening, all armed with double- 
barreled shot-guns, under Captain Desha. 

"1861. October 15. I was wrongly informed as to the arms of 
the Kentuckians, they have Minnie rifles and muskets, and were a 
part of the State guard. Three thousand dollars reward for the 
above-mentioned Captain Desha ; his father is here with him. 

"1861. October 30th. The Kentucky company took the cars for 
General Buckner's headquarters by way of Nashville, Tennessee, 
and all took the oath this morning. One of the Kentuckians by 
accident shot himself through the arm above and below the elbow. 

"1861. November 13th. This day the Cherokee artillery of Geor- 
gia got here from Goldsboro, North Carolina. The train with 
most of the regiment ran off near Senter depot last night and 
killed three and hurt several. They have three brass six-pounders 
and one iron rifled six-pounder. 

"1861. November 25th. Twenty of Colonel Jenkins' cavalry got 
here to-day from Dublin, where they took ninety-four prisoners 
captured at Giiyandotte on the 17th. 

"1861. November 26th. Colonel Stewart's Fifty-sixth Virginia 
Volunteer Eegiment got to Abingdon depot to-night on their way 
to Pound Gap to join General Humphrey Marshall. 

"1861. December 9th. Three hundred cavalry, Colonel Phillips, 
of Georgia Legion, got here to-day from Tory mountains of Vir- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 527 

ginia, and left for Taylorsville, Tenn., the Tory moimtains of 
Tennessee. The balance of the regiment is behind. 

"N. F).— The above regiment is said to be the Fifty-seventh Vir- 
ginia, and that a battalion from North Carolina went about the 
same time after night and stopped at Bristol. 

"1861. December 8th. There are now at the depot six cannon, 
two of them rifled, and twenty-four carriages. 

"1861. December 31st. Mrs. Humes died to-day, General Floyd's 
Brigade has been going for the last week on the railroad from the 
Tory mountains of Virginia to Bowling Green, Kentucky. 

"1862. March 16th. Jacob Lynch died this morning at two 
o'clock, his brother Daniel died at Estillville, Scott county, the 16th 
of March, 1843, at 12 o'clock. 

"1862. May 18th. Adam Hickman died this morning at twenty 
minutes past nine o'clock, has been in bad health for about ten 
years. 

"1862. July 1st. It rained very liard at sundown, just aft«r the 
train got to the depot with the remains of Colonel Fulkerson, who 
was shot the evening of the 27th, in tlie battle below Richmond in 
a charge on the enemy's battery, which was taken, but the Colonel 
died the 28th, at twelve o'clock at night. His place cannot be 
filled in Southwest Virginia, and I doubt if it can be in the State. 
He was buried July 2d at twelve o'clock. 

"1862. November 6th. got home to-day from 

Kentucky ; has been there almost two months ; brought a fine Bowie 

knife of a Union Tory and his cap (tip too) ■ 

killed him. Nothing now on this continent in the shape of man 
l)iit thieves, robbers and murderers. 

"1862. December 22d. Jerry and Jim, slaves of Allen, of Ten- 
nessee, were convicted for the mnrdcr of William McDaniel on the 
farm of Colonel John Preston and sentenced to be hung on the 
23d day of January, 1863. 

"1862. December 31st. It is said that 1,500 or 3,000 cavalry 
(Yanks) came through Stone Gap, aiid got to Blountville, the 30th, 
and took it. 

"1863. January 23d. This day between twelve and one o'clock 
Jerry and Jim were hung in the Academy field for the murder of 
William McDaniel in October, 1868. 

"1863. March 4th. This night, 1841, Charles B. Coale and 



528 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

myself were converted by Dave Shaver in what is called the Eadical 
Church, to Methodism ; Hum — 

"1863. March 28th. Yesterday was Jeff Davis' fast day, whether 
the people fasted or not I don't know, but they went to the different 
churches. 

"18G2. November 22d. William Fields died the 22d of Novem- 
ber, 1862, in the fifty-second year of his age, no better man lias 
lived or died in Washington county. His father died New Year's 
morning 1829, just such a man." 

By the fall of the year 1862, the Southern sympathizers living in 
the State of Kentucky were compelled to leave their homes, and 
the provisional Governor of that State, after being inaugurated at 
Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 4th of October, was forced to leave his 
State and had his headquarters in Abingdon on the'Slst of October. 

In the month of December, 1862, shoes in Abingdon brought 
from $10 to $12 per pair, boots from $20 to $30 per pair, a pair of 
jeans pants, $20 ; a jeans coat, $30 to $40 ; a bushel of corn, $2.50 
to $3 ; a bushel of wheat, $4 ; a barrel of flour, $25, and a bushel of 
sweet potatoes, $5. 

The people of this county were greatly excited by the invasion 
of East Tennessee by about fifteen hundred Federal troops under 
the command of Greneral Carter. 

At the time. General Humphrey Marshall with his brigade was 
at Abingdon, and immediately started in pursuit, accompanied by 
a volunteer company from this county under Lieutenant Warren 
M. Hopkins. 

The invaders succeeded in destroying the railroad bridge across 
the Holston and Watauga rivers and made their escape. 

In January, 1863, th'e Goivernor of Virginia made a requisition 
upon the authorities of Washington county for one hundred and 
twenty slaves to work upon the fortifications around Richmond, 
which request was complied with, after some time. 

The court directed the sheriff and his deputies to ascertain the 
number of slaves in the county, of all ages and sexes and the num- 
ber of male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five 
years. The sheriff and his deputies and the commissioners of the 
revenue reported, ascertaining the number of slaves in this county 
tO' be twenty-seven hundred and eighty-seven, and the number of 
male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years to 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 529 

be six hundred and fourteen; thereupon the court directed Tobias 
Smith, Jolin N. Humes, Abram Mongie and Joseph W. Davis to 
apportion the one hundred and twenty slaves required from this 
county, upon the male slaves between the ages of eighteen and 
forty-five years, and required the slave-holders of the county to 
deliver his or her quota of slaves to the sheriff of this county at 
Abingdon, Goodson and Glade Spring on the 21st of February, 
1863, and Jolin L. Bradley and Moses Brooks were appointed 
agents or overseers for such slaves, and Floyd B. Hurt was directed 
to notify the railroad company of the number of slaves to be sent 
from this county to Eichmond. 

At the same term of the court an order was entered appointing 
the Eev. Thomas Catlett agent for the county to proceed to North 
Carolina to purchase cotton yarn and domestic for the destitute 
families of soldiers in this county. 

In the summer of the year 1863, the portion of salt allotted to 
this county from the Saltworks was distributed among the people 
by T. G. McConnell, William E. Ehea and Eobert C. Allison, in 
quantities not less than ten bushels and at $2 per bushel. 

On Thursday evening, the 10th of September, 1863, Eebecca 
Lynch and Elizabeth Murray, of this county, were under an oak 
tree near Lynch's Spring on the turnpike at the head of McBroom's 
mill-dam, with two Confederate soldiers, during a storm. Light- 
ning struck the tree under which they had taken shelter and the 
four persons were killed. 

In the fall of the year 1863, Washington county was overrun by 
stragglers and deserters from the army, claiming to belong to the 
cavalry service. These men traveled about and over the county in 
bands of from two to twenty, and robbed the citizens indiscrimi- 
nately of their money, clothing, horses, saddles, bridles, their grain 
and forage, by force and actual violence, and such was the condi- 
tion of affairs that the County Court of Washington count)' 
appealed to the General Assembly of the State for a remedy, stat- 
ing that they had appealed to the military authorities, but without 
avail. 

In the fall of 1862 and the spring and summer of 1863 several 
companies of infantry and cavalry were organized in this county — 
viz. : Company E, of the Sixty-third Virginia Eegiment, Captain 
David 0. Eush; Company F, of the Sixty-third Virginia Eegiment, 



530 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

Captain James Snodgi-ass; Company C, of the Twenty-first Vir- 
ginia Eegiment, Captain R. J. Preston; Company , Twenty- 

liist Vii-ginia Cavalry, Captain Fred Gray. 

In tiie fail of this year another requisition was made upon the 
county authorities I'oi' eighty slaves to work upon the fortifications 
at Saltville. 

The county had been threatened with an invasion by the enemy 
during the fall of the year and had been overrun as before 
described, and the County Court, at the October term, petitioned 
the Governor to exempt this county from the requisition, but their 
petition was refused and the slaves were furnished early in the year 
18G4. 

At the same term of the court an order was entered appointing 
John Roberts a general agent for the county to j)urchase supplies 
for the families of soldiers who were in indigent circumstances, 
and district agents were appointed in the several districts of the 
county with authority to purchase supplies for the same purpose 
and to draw upon John G. Kreger for such sums of money as 
were needed for the purpose. 

At the ISTovember court, 1863, the districts of the commissioners 
of revenue for the county were designated, pursuant to an Act 
of Assembly, the Western District being No. 1, and the Eastern 
District Ko. 2. 

By December, 1863, the condition of affairs was such that the 
people of the county were threatened with a famine for bread, and 
the County Court entered an order calling the attention of the Con- 
federate aiithorities at Richmond to the condition of affairs in this 
county and asking their aid in every legitimate way to prevent any 
further appropriation of the means of the people of this county to 
the support of the army. 

On the 16th of September, 1863, a company was organized at 
Abingdon for home defence. This company was officered as fol- 
lows: 

Captain, Peter C. Johnson. 
First Lieutenant, Joseph T. Campbell. 
Second Lieutenant, Charles F. Keller. 
Third Lieutenant, W. R. Trigg. 

A full complement of sergeants and corporals were appointed 
and Saturday was fixed as the day for drilling. This was the sec- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 531 

ond company organized for home defence in the town, the first com- 
pany having been organized on the 22d of Jime, 1863, and was 
officered as follows: 

A. C. Cummings, captain. 

John A. Campbell, first lieutenant. 

G. V. Litchfield, second lieutenant, 

Charles F. Keller, first sergeant. 

James L. Davis, second sergeant. 

Henry Eoberts, third sergeant. 

John Leach, fourth sergeant. 

James A. King, fifth sergeant. 

James S. Munsey, first corporal. 

These two companies undertook the protection of this community 
upon ordinary occasions and discharged their duties well. 

In the spring of this year. Colonel William E. Peters was elected 
to represent this district in the Senate of Virginia, while Colonel 
A. C. Cummings and Captain George Graham were elected to 
repi-esent the county in the House of Delegates, but, in the fall. Colo- 
nel Peters resigned his position as a member of the S'enate of Vir- 
ginia, and Colonel Joseph J. Graham, of Wythe, was elected to fill 
the vacancy. 

The threatened invasion by the Federal troops from the West was 
so imminent that on the 16th of October, 1863, Abingdon was 
honored with two major and six brigadier-generals — to-wit: Ran- 
som, Samuel Jones, Corse, Wharton, Williams, W. E. Jones, Jack- 
son and Crittenden. 

By January 1, 1864, this county had furnished at least two 
thousand men, nearly all volunteers, to the army of the Confederate 
States, and had been subjected to the necessity of having quartered 
on them large numbers of troops, and provisions and forage were 
scarcer in the county than they had been for many years. Serious 
apprehensions were felt that the poor of the county and the families 
of soldiers would suft'er. During the fall of 1863, the brigades of 
Grenerals Corse, Jones and Whai'ton were encamped near Abing- 
don for more than a montli, and bad consumed large quantities of 
provision and forage. There were at this time about one thousand 
sick and wounded soldiers in the three hospitals in the county. 

But, notwitlistanding the sitiuition of the jwojjle of tlio county, 
in the month of ]\Iarch, 1864, officers were impressing in the lower 



532 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

end of this county all provisions to be found except five bushels of 
grain and lifty pounds of beef or bacon to each adult of tlie family, 
and one-half the quantity for those under fourteen years of age, 
for use by General Longstreet's forces, and by the sumiuer of this 
year, wheat sold at $30 per bushel and corn at $34. 

It seems that such a condition of affairs would have been imbear- 
able, but such was the patriotism and loyalty of our people to their 
Conmionwealth, that they, with but little hesitation, furnished the 
oliicei's of the Confederate government the greater portion of all the 
grain and provision tliat they could possibly secure. 

General Buckner and General Morgan were both in Abingdon on 
the first of April, 1864. 

A portion of General Morgan's Brigade were encamped for a 
few days near our town. 

On the 5th day of February, 1864, a young man by the name of 
Jacob Mullens, of Wise county, Virginia, was shot by order of 
Colonel Prentiss, in West Abingdon, at the location of the colored 
graveyard. Mullens had deserted from his company and joined the 
enemy. The Abingdon paper in speaking of Mullens says: "He 
was an exceedingly ignorant young man, almost a heathen, having 
never read the Bible, nor heard it read until after his conviction, 
and never heard a sermon in his life. The chaplain of the post 
and several other ministers here gave him the benefit of their coun- 
sel and consolation, and he seemed to be penitent. He was greatly 
affected on the day of his execution, but exhibited a good deal of 
firnmess and composure after arriving at the place of execution. 
He was sitting upon his coffin with his fingers in his ears when the 
order to fire was given. He expired almost immediately, five balls 
having pierced his breast."* 

This is but one instance of the many that happened during the 
war, such executions being necessary to enforce discipline and to 
render tlie armies of the Confederacy effective. 

The first day of April, 1864, was set apart as a day of humilia- 
tion, fasting and prayer throughout our Southland, and that day 
was observed by all our people. 

On the same day James K. Gibson resigned his office as Con- 



*" Abingdon Virginian." 



Washington Counhj, 1777-1S70. 533 

federate States Depositary at Abingdon, and Fiend B. Hurt was 
appointed his successor. 

The County Court at its April term, 18G4, directed that $50,000 
be levied upon the county to buy grain in Georgia or elsewhere to 
be distributed among the poor and the families of soldiers who 
were in indigent circumstances in this county, and Aaron L. Hen- 
dricks was appointed to purchase the said corn and have it con- 
veyed to ibis county, and committees were appointed in each of the 
magisterial districts of the county to solicit subscriptions and 
relieve the sufferings of the people as far as possible. 

The County Court at this time had on hand six hundj-ed and 
eighty bushels of salt, which was much more valual)le than the Con- 
federate currency and county scrip, and the court directed Jonas 
8. Kelly to convey this salt to. Tennessee and exchange the same for 
corn, to relieve the suffering families of the soldiers of this county. 

The indebtedness of Washington county on the S3d of May, 1864, 
was ascertained to be $53,648.00. 

To add to the sufferings of the pcoule of the county, small-]>ox in 
a dangerous form appeared in the vicinity of Alungdon. pi-oduc- 
ing a great deal of uneasiness among the people. 

On the 3d day of September, 1804, General John H. ^lorgan, 
who had l)een of great service to the people of this county, was 
foully murdered at the residence of ]\[rs. Dr. Williams in Green- 
ville, Tennessee. He was betrayed by a young Mrs. Williams, who 
had left her home upon the coming of General Morgan, and 
informed the Federal troops of the whereal)outs of General IMor- 
gan and the number of guards on duty, and on Sunday morning 
the 3d, the house where General Morgan was sleeping was sur- 
rounded by Federal troops, and in attempting to escape General 
Morgan was shot through the right breast and killed, his body 
thrown across a horse and paraded thro\igh the streets of tlie town. 

On Monday night the remains of General Morgan arrived at 
Abingdon, and were taken to the residence of Judge Campl)cll in 
the vicinity,* where Mrs. Morgan with one or two relatives were 
sojourning. On Tuesday evening at 4 o'clock, funeral services we/e 
performed by Chaplain Cameron, and the procession foi'ined by 
General George B. Crittenden. It was the largest and most imi:)OfJ- 



*Acklin, home of Mr. Miugea. 



534 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

ing procession of the sort ever seen in this part of the country. The 
order was as follows: 

1st. Hearse, with the body and guards on each side, withouc 
arms. 

2d. Chaplains. 

3d. Family of deceased. 

4th. Military family, mounted by twos. 

5th. Military court, mounted by twos. 

6th. Officers of the army, mounted by twos. 

,7 th. Privates, mounted by twos. 

8th. Citizens, mounted by twos. 

9th. Citizens, dismounted. 

As the sun went down behind dark masses of clouds in the West, 
emblematic of the sorrow and gloom that pervaded the vast con- 
course in attendance, all that was mortal of the immortal John H. 
Morgan was consigned to the rest of the tomb, there to sleep, 
unmindful of the clash of arms and the terrible tread of armies, 
until the trump that marshals the buried millions shall break his 
slumbers. 

The remains of General Morgan were interred in Sinking Spring 
Cemetery, but were subsequently removed to his home in Kentucky. 

General Morgan was succeeded in his command by General Duke, 
of Kentucky, but from this time forward the people of this county 
were without hope and calmly awaited the inevitable. 

The subscription price of the "Abingdon Virginian,'' at this time 
was $8 per year. 

BATTLE OF SALTVILLE. 

Major-General Burbridge, in command of about five thousand 
Federal troops, at this time entered Virginia by way of Pikevillc. 
Kentucky, and proceeded up the Big Sandy and crossed the moun- 
tains into Tazewell county at Eichlands. At the same time Gen- 
eral Gillem, at the head of a considerable force of Federal troops, 
was making every effort tO' enter Virginia from East Tennessee, but 
the progress of Gillem was greatly retarded by the efforts of 
General Vaughan, who was in command of a considerable body of 
Confederate troops in that section. 

It was known that the destination of General Burbridge and 
General Gillem was the Saltworks in this county, and the reserves 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 535 

of this county (being boys under seventeen and men over forty- 
live years of age) were called upon to organize for tlie purpose of 
defending their homes, and, by the 30th day of September, four 
companies were ready for service under the command of Colonel 
James T. Preston, as follows : 

Company I, Captain Thomas Patterson. 
Company C, Captain William B. Campbell. 
Company E, Captain John W. Worley. 
Company F, Captain William Barrow. 

A portion of these companies were organized some time pre- 
vious to this time. 

At the same time. General Vaughan with his forces was ordered 
to Saltville from East Tennessee, where he had, until this time, 
successfully opposed the advance of General Gillem's Brigade. 
When it was known that General 'Vaughan had been ordered to 
Saltville, such a stampede as occurred among the people of this 
section had never before been witnessed in this county. The roads 
were crammed and blocked with cattle, sheep, negroes, wagons, bug- 
gies and great numbers of citizens with their families. The scene 
was almost indescribable, and Abingdon was deserted, with the 
exception of a very few old men, women and children. 

About seven hundred reserves had gathered at Saltville under 
the command of Colonel Eobert Smith, of Tazewell; Colonel Eobert 
Preston, of Montgomery; Colonel .Tames T. Preston, of Wash- 
ington, and Colonel Kent, of Wythe. 

Colonel Robert Trigg, of the Fifty-fourth Virginia Regiment, 
being at Saltville at that time, took charge oi this force and was 
actively engaged in organizing it when General A. E. Jackson 
arrived and took command and began to plan the defences of the 
place. 

General Burbridge had followed the State road from Kentucky 
into Tazewell county and from Eichlands directed his course by 
Cedar Bluff toward the Saltworks. 

Giltner's Brigade, composed of the Fourth Kentucky, Johnson's 
Battalion, Jenkin's Battalion, Clay's Battalion, the Tenth Ken- 
tucky Cavalry and the Sixty-fourth Virginia Eegiment, met Bur- 
bridge's army at Cedar Bluff, and from that point disputed his 
advance at every opportunity from the 30th day of September 



536 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

until he had passed Laurel Gap in Clinch mountain on Saturday, 
October 1, 1864. 

This brigade of Confederate troops was composed of probably 
the best soldiers in the Confederate array and nuiidjered about 
twelve hundred men. 

They not only assailed Burbridge's army at every opjxiTtunity, 
but cut trees across the road and ])laced every obstruction in the 
way that could be thought of to retard the progress of the Federal 
army through Tazewell county, and, notwithstanding the superior 
forces commanded by Burbridge, the Federal army was unable to 
.pass through the Laurel Gap in Clinch mountain for more tban a 
day. 

When Giltner's Brigade had, by superior strength, been driven 
from the Laurel Gap, it was divided into two sections of about 
equal numbers, the first section passing down the Poor Valley road 
destroying bridges and obstructing the road in every possible way. 
This force was commanded by Dr. E. 0. Guerrant, of Giltner's 
staff, and Colonel Pryor, of the Fourth Kentucky, while the second 
section crossed the river and followed the Valley road to Saltville, 
and was under the command of Colonel H. L. Giltner. 

Colonel Giltner expected Burbridge with his army to march 
to the Saltworks that night, and if he had, the capture of the works 
would have been iuevitable, but, to the surprise of the Confederate 
forces, Biirbridge's array went into camp in the bottom on the south 
of Laurel Gap and remained until the following morning, Sunda}', 
October 2, 1864. 

The Federal forces began their march to Saltville and arrived on 
the north side of the river near Govei-nor Saunder's residence 
between nine aiul ten A. M. of that day, and in the meantime and 
on the morning of the same day. General John S. Williams, of 
Wheeler's Cavalry, arrived at Saltville, with his division, which 
was composed of Robertson's Brigade, of soldiers from Texas, 
Dibrell's Brigade and the Ninth Iventucky Cavalry commanded by 
Colonel William C. P. Breckenridge. 

The Confederate forces at Saltville at this time were as follows : 

Colonel H. L. Giltner's Brigade, comjx)sed of the Fourth Ken- 
tucky, commanded by Colonel Pryor ; Tenth Kentucky, commanded 
by Colonel Edwin Trimble; Johnson's Battalion, Kentucky troops; 
Clay's Battalion, Kentucky troops; Jenkins' Battalion, Kentucky 
troops; the Sixty-fourth Virginia Eegiment, commanded by 



Washington Count i/, 1777- 1S70. 537 

Colonel A. L. Priclemorc; Erigadier-General Jolia S. Williams' 
Brigade, composed of Eobertson's Brigade, commanded by General 
Eobertson; Dibrell's Brigade, commanded by General George Dib- 
rell; A^inth Kentucky Cavalry, commanded by Colonel William 
C. P. Breckenridge; First Kentucky, commanded by Colonel Grif- 
fith; the Thirteenth Battalion of Virginia reserves, commanded 
by Lieutenant-Colonel l^jbert Smith, of Tazewell county, the rank- 
ing colonel then present. This battalion was composed of the fol- 
lowing companies: 

Company A, Smyth county, commanded by Lieutenant James 
Golahon. 

Company B, Tazewell county, commanded by Captain Samuel L, 
Graham. 

Company C, Washington county, commanded by Lieutenant 
J. S. Booher, 

Company D, Smyth county, commanded by Anderson. 

Company F, Washington county, commanded by Cajjtain Wil- 
liam Barrow. 

Company G, JUissell county, commanded by Caplaiu A. P. 
Gilmer. 

Company H, Tazewell county, commanded by Captain George E. 
Starnes. 

Company I, Washington county, commanded by Cn])tain '^Fhomas 
E. Patterson. 

Company E, Washington county, commanded by Captain Henry 
B. Roberts, was pn duty at Abingdon, and did not roach th(> l)attle- 
ground until about sundo\vn of October 2d. 

Kent's Battalion, commanded by Colonel Kent and Major lluun- 
shell, of Wythe. 

This battalion was composed of several companies of militia from 
"Wythe, Carroll and Grayson counties ; the officers' names I do not 
know. 

The forces at Saltville were under command of General A. E. 
Jackson until about 9 :30 of the morning of the day of the battle, 
when he was succeeded by General Williams, who arrived at that 
time, and took command of all the forces tlien at Saltville. 

Genera] Williams began liis ])r(']>arati(ins fi>r the battb' and 
arranged his forces as follows: 

Colonel James T. Preston, Avith one hundred and twenty reserves, 



538 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

was directed to form a skirmish line along the river and to defend 
the ford one-half a mile above the lower works. 

The line of battle was formed from right to left on the south side 
of the river, the right wing of the army fronting the residence of 
Governor Sannders, the forces being arranged in the following 
order : 

To the north of the road and on the extreme left the First Ken- 
tucky, Colonel Griffith, and, in the order named, to the right, the 
Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, Colonel William C. P. Breckenridge, 
Giltner's Brigade, as follows: Fourth Kentucky, Colonel Pryor; 
Johnson's Battalion, Colonel Thomas Johnson; Jenkins' Bat- 
talion, Captain Jenkins; Clay's Battalion, Colonel Clay; Sixty- 
fourth Virginia Eegiment, Colonel A. L. Pridemore; Tenth Ken- 
tucky, Colonel Edwin Trimble — this last regiment defending the 
ford. 

To the south of the road and facing Governor Saunders' resi- 
dence, in the order named, the Thirteenth Battalion of Virginia 
Eeserves, Colonel Eo. Smith; Kent's Battalion, Colonel Kent; 
Eobertson's Brigade, General Eobertson, and Dibrell's Brigade, 
General George Dibrell — ^this last brigade forming the extreme 
right of the army, wliile the artillery under the command of Cap- 
tain John W. Barr, was placed on Church Hill, north of the pub- 
lic road near the position occupied by the First Kentucky and in a 
position that commanded the advance of the enemy. 

William King's Battery was to the south of Eobertson's Brigade 
and south of the ridge, and did not have an opportunity to take 
part in the battle. 

The Federal forces were partly on the north side of the river 
and partly south of the river and east of Dibrell's Brigade. Such 
was the position of the opposing forces when an overwhelming force 
of Federal troops, colored soldiers, assaulted Dibrell's Brigade, 
which brigade retired to the west side of Cedar creek, and had every 
advantage of the attacking forces. 

A part of Kenf s Battalion of Eeserves commanded by Major 
Hounshell and stationed east of and near to Governor Saunders' 
house, tTiinlving that Dibrell's Brigade were acting in a cowardly 
manner and not being themselves accustomed to war, refused to leave 
Iheir position and for some time and without any assistance main- 
tained the contest against overwhelming numbers, suffering the loss 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 539 

of a number of excellent men. Major Hoiinshell himself exhibiting a 
bravery never excelled, but after some time this force was induced 
to retire to the west side of Cedar creek, and at this point the 
battle began in earnest, and in a few moments the colored regiment 
was repulsed with great numbers killed, Colonel Dibrell's Brigade 
being especiall}- offoctive in mowing down tlie advancing enemy. 

About tlie time of tlie attack on Dibrell's Brigade the Federal 
troops attempted to force the ford at the position occupied by the 
Tenth Kentucky, and the right wing of Colonel Giltner's Brigade, 
notwithstanding the fact that they fought with determined bravery, 
were gradually pressed back a short distance from their position by 
a whole brigade of the enemy commanded by Colonel Hanson, and 
every field officer of the Tenth Kentucky was killed or wounded at 
this time. 

Colonel Trigg, seeing the situation of Giltner's Brigade, detached 
two companies from Kent's Battalion, Wythe and Carroll compa- 
nies, and sent them forward under the command of Colonel Kent 
to reinforce Colonel Giltner. 

The two companies thus sent to the assistance of Colonel Giltner 
were soon in the thickest of the fight and lost twenty-four men, 
including Captain Shockley and First Lieuten^t Bolt of the cav- 
alry company. 

The artillery, under command of Captain Barr, did very effec- 
tive work. The reserves xmder the command of Colonel Eobcrt 
Smith, Colonel Eobert Preston and Colonel Kent, were in the thick- 
est of the fight, and their gallantry and bravery upon this occasion 
were highly commended at the time and have since been the pride of 
all the citizens of Southwest Virginia. 

The force commanded by Colonel James T. Preston was attacked 
at about two o'clock by a brigade of infantry and a regiment of 
cavalry under Colonel Charles Hanson, but held their position from 
two o'clock in the afternoon until dark, with the assistance of about 
one hundred men from the Tenth Kentucky Eegiment. About 
one-half an hour before dark. Colonel Hanson, who commanded the 
enemy's forces, was wounded and thereupon withdrew. The battle 
lasted from ten o'clock in the morning till sundown of the same 
day, and resulted in the precipitate retreat that night of General 
Burbridge to Kentucky by tlie road that lie had come, hotly pur- 
sued by the Confederate forces. 



540 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-17S6. 



^J^lie forces engaged in tliis battle were, according to the official 
report of General Burbridge, four thousand eight hundred picked 
troops on the Federal side, while not more than three thousand 
men, including the reserves, were on the Confederate side. 

The Federal loss in killed and wounded in this battle was about 
three hundred and fifty, the number of prisoners captured is 
variously estimated at from three to twelve hundred. The Federals 
left dead upon the field one hundred and four white and one hun- 
dred and fifty-six negro soldiers. 

The Confederate loss was eight killed and fifty-one wounded, 
among the killed being Colonel Trimble and Lieutenant Crutch- 
field, of the Tenth Kentucky Eegiment. 

General John C. Brcckenridge, who was in command of this 
department at that time, reached the field of battle about sun-down, 
and General Vaughan, who had made a forced march from East 
Tennessee, with his own and Duke's and Cosby's Brigades, reached 
the field of battle just as the enemy began tO' withdraw and in time 
to hear the shout of victory given along the lines of this gallant 
army of Confederate soldiers. 

It was thought at the time that the bravery exhibited in this con- 
test by the reserves from Southwest Virginia was equal to the 
bravery exhibited by the citizens of this county at King's iiiountaiii 
in 1780. 

General Burbridge was not only hotly pursued by the victorious 
forces, but he was assailed at all points upon his retreat, and escaped 
into Kentucky with great loss. 

This victory, if it coidd have been the fortune of our country to 
take advantage of it, as did our forefathers of the battle of 
King's moimtain, might have turned the tide of the war and won 
for the South her independence. But the condition of our country 
at this time was hopeless. 

The greater portion of the South had been overrun by the Fed- 
eral forces, and the armies of the Confederacy were starving and 
naked, while the families of the soldiers with the greatest difficulty 
k'ept starvation from the door. 

The County Court of this county at the November term, 18(54, 
appropriated $10,000 to be used for this purpose. 

The last call for troops was made by the Confederate States 
in the month of November, and met with a hearty response from 



Washington Counhi, 1777-1870. 541 

our authorities, but, as the countv was about (Iraiiied of its male 
population, tlio court of this county petitioned the Secretary of War 
of the Confederate States to exempt from this call two to four men 
in each of the nine districts of the county, blacksmiths, wagon- 
makers, cofhn-uiakers, shoemakers, tanners, one physician, and one 
miller. The names of the men thus asked to be exempted were fur- 
nished to the Secretary of War and entered of record by said cO'Urt. 

General Burbridge, shortly after his return to Kentucky, united 
his forces with those of Generals Stoneman and Gilleui, making an 
army of at least ten thousand men, and again began the march for 
Southwest Virginia. Thte people of this county were informed of the 
movements of the Federal troops, but were so reduced l)y the pov- 
erty and want that surrounded them upon all sides and the almost 
total absence from the county of men able to bear arm?, that the 
nuxrch of the Federal troops met with but little resistance. The 
people were expecting the arrival of the Federal troops for several 
days preceding the 14th day of December, 18G4, and on the even- 
ing of the 14th at about nine-thirty o'clock, the report of the gmis 
of the Federal pickets was heard at the western outskirts of Abing- 
don. 

A part of General Duke's command of Confederate soldiers was 
encamped at the farm of James A. Bailey, a few miles northeast of 
Abingdon, and a number of soldiers from that camp were in Aljing- 
don at the time the fire of the Federal pickets was heard. 

These soldiers undertook to delay the Federals in entering the 
town, but a company of the Federal troops advanced up Main 
street, firing at intervals, and when they had reached a point oppo- 
site the residence of S. JST. Honaker, a discharge from their guns 
in the direction of the court-house caused Duke's men, who had 
foiiued a line at the intersection of Court and Main streets to 
rapidly disperse in the direction of iheir eamp at Bailey's. 

General Stoneman, after taking possession of the town, passed 
on rapidly in the direction of the Lead Mines, having directed the 
burning of the Virginia and Tennessee dei)ot. Hurt's store, Sinon's 
wagon-sho]), Musser's wagon-shop, the county jail and the barracks 
opposite the jail, at the corner of Court and A^alley streets. All of 
the places thus burned were occupied by the officials of the Con- 
federate States and in all of them were stored Confederate supplies. 

The Federal commander issued orders forbidding the troops to 



542 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

enter private houses or to plunder or burn any portion of the town 
other than the places mentioned. 

A number of Federal soldiers and stragglers remained at a black- 
smith shop in the east end of the town on the morning of the 15th 
for the purpose of having their horses shod. 

A company of Confederate soldiers numbering about twenty men, 
being a part of Colonel Lee's regiment from Mississippi, had 
become detached from their regiment and were following in the 
rear of Stoneman's army, capturing, plundering and harassing the 
enemy to as great an extent as possible. 

This company reached Abingdon some time during the night of 
December 14th, and encamped on the Glebe land back of the reser- 
voir, and early on the morning of the 15th, sent one of their num- 
ber disguised in Federal uniform into the town to see what was 
going on. 

About the time this messenger reached Abingdon, a straggler 
from the Federal army by the name of James (Tites) Wyatt, who 
had been reared in this community and had served as an apprentice 
to Gabriel Stickley, rode into town, dressed in Federal uniform, 
and declared his purpose to burn the town, because, as he said, 
"JSToble I. McGinnis, a prominent citizen of the town and a member 
of the County Court, had some time previous to the war, pun- 
ished him for an offence of wdiich he was not guilty." He dis- 
mounted in front of the court-house, had a negro to hold his horse, 
w^ent to the cupola of the court-house and set it on fire. He then 
remounted and proceed to fire all the buildings on the south side 
of Main street, riding into the buildings and firing them as he 
went. After he had partially completed, his work, he halted his 
horse at the intersection of Main and Court street, in front of the 
store now kept by Nidermaier & Barbee, put his leg across the horn 
of the saddle and watched the fire as it rapidly devoured the build- 
ings on either side of the street. 

He would not permit any one to extinguish the flames. In the 
meantime the messenger from the camp of the Confederate soldiers 
had returned and reported the presence in the town of the Federal 
soldiers at John G. Clark's blacksmith shop, and the firing of the 
town by Wyatt. 

While Wyatt was occupying the position last stated, this com- 
pany of Confederate soldiers, partially disguised in Federal uni- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 543 

form, were seen rapidly galloping down the hill fronting Jackson 
Institute, and from that point they began to disperse, a part of the 
soldiers turning to the right and to the left at Hayes and Slaughter 
streets. After passing Slaughter street, two of the number kept up 
Main street, the others following Valley and Water streets tO' the east 
end of the town. The two that came up Main street were named 
John and Samuel Findlay, and were from Holly Springs, Miss. 
When they had reached a point near the residence of N. K. White, 
Samuel Findlay asked a number of boys as to the whereabouts of 
the man who was firing the town. In answer, a boy by the name 
of Deady pointed out Wyatt at the corner of Main and Court 
streets. Thereupon Findlay began to fire upon him, and Wyatt 
began to call to Findlay that he was shooting at his own men, but 
Findlay continued to fire, and Wyatt, getting himself in position, 
rushed his horse by the Fiudlays, going toward the west end ol the 
town. Samuel Findlay thereupon turned his horse and pursued 
Wyatt to Ha3'es street, when Wyatt's horse turned to the left and 
Wyatt fell to the ground, mortally wounded. Findlay captured 
W3-att's horse, and soon joined his fellows in the east end of the 
town. 

John Findlay did not halt his horse as he passed Wyatt at the 
court-house, but rapidly proceeded to the east end of town. Before 
he had reached the intersection of the street at Webb's store, the 
Federal troops at Clark's blacksmith shop had been charged by the 
Confederate soldiers that came down Valley street, and Findlay 
joined in the pursuit 

One of the Federal soldiers, beyond question a brave man and 
bolder than the rest, turned in his saddle as he started east from 
Webb's store and deliberately fired upon his pursuers, and, as a 
result he was shot from his horse near the residence of A. B. Trigg, 
the horse making its escape. The Confederate soldiers thereupon 
returned to Abingdon. 

The fire started by Wyatt consumed all the buildings, including 
the courthouse, on both sides of Main street from the Court street 
to Brewer's street. 

This account of the circumstances attending the burning of 
Abingdon was given me by an eye-witness of th'e transaction.*, 

The Federal troops continued their march to the Lead Mines in 



*W. H. Mitchell. 



544 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Wythe county, which they destroyed, and from that point they 
returned to Seven-Mile Ford and thence to the right to Saltville. 
When they had reached Saltville, some slight resistance was offered 
by a number of Confederate soldiers and reserves who were at tlie 
place at that time, but the town was easily captured and thi; 
works destroyed. The particulars of the last visit of the Federal 
troops to Saltville it is impossilile to obtain at this time, as all 
newspaper plants in this country had been destroyed previously 
thereto, and the accounts given by jiersons present at the time are 
so conflicting and unreliable that T do not undertake to state the 
facts. 

On the 29th of December, 1864, the County Court of this county 
appointed Peter J. Branch, John G. Kreger, Joseph T. Campbell 
and James Fields, a committee to procure suitable rooms for a 
courthouse and clerk's office, and to^ report at that term of the 
court. On the same day this committee reported that they liad pro- 
cured Dunn's store-house, (now the old Arlington Tlotel), for one 
year, at the price of $1,500. This report was accepted by the court 
and the committee before named wore directed to proceed at once 
and have said building fitted up in a proper manner for the court- 
house and clerk's ofhce, and the jail of Smyth county was adopted 
as the jail of Washington county. 

Dimn's storehouse, at the time, was occupied by Captain J. G. 
Martin, commandant of the military force at this place, as a guard 
house, and he declined to surrender possession to the committee 
appointed by the County Court, which fact the committee reported 
to the court, and the court at its January term, 1865, issued a rule 
against Captain Martin, summoning him to appear before the court 
at once, and show cause why he should not surrender the pos- 
session of the building to the court. 

This rule was issued, and Captain Martin appeared before the 
court and answered that he had made a report to Major-General 
Breckenridge and had received a connnunication froui Adjutant 
J. Stoddard Johnston directing him to hold possession of the 
■^rooms, and that he. intended to obey the order, and immediately 
retired to an adjoining room and ordered his guard under arms, 
some of whom went into court with arms in their hands. The 
court evidently thought that this action was taken to intimidate 
the court, for thereupon an order was entered referring the matter 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 545 

to the Odvornor of the I'oiuinonwoaltli, requesting' tJint a suiRcicnt 
force be ordered out by the Governor to enforce the order of the 
County Court of this county. 

Notliing more of importance occurred in this county until the 
close of the war in the following April. 

This county, in addition to furnishing more than three thousand 
soldiers to the armies of the Confederate States, produced a num- 
ber of officers who won distinguished honors in their several 
spheres, among them being Generals Joseph E. Jolmson, John B. 
Floyd, William E. Jones, William Y. C. Plumes, John S. Preston 
and Colonels John S. Mosby, Samuel V. Fulkerson, John A. 
Campbell, John F. Terry, E. P. Carson, A. C. Cummings, D. C. 
Dunn, Connally F. Lynch, James W. Humes, Abram Fulkerson 
and many others, all of whom were citizens of this county by birth 
or by choice. 

•The Confederate officers stationed in x\bingdon during the war, 
so far as I can ascertain, were M. B. Tate, William Eodefer and 
E. Crutchfield, quartermasters; E. A. Williams and Francis Smith, 
commissaries; John H. Earnest, D. B. Baldwin and J. G. Martin, 
provost marshals; James K. Gibson and Floyd B. Hurt, Confeder- 
ate States depositaries. 

A hospital was maintained in the White House, opposite the 
residence of ilrs. John D. Mitchell, during the greater part of the 
war, and Dr. Liglitfoot, of Kentucky, was the principal surgeon 
in charge, in 18G4. The wounded soldiers at this hospital were 
attended by Drs. Barr, Heiskell, Pitts and Preston, and received 
every attention possible from the ladies of the town. 

The close of the war found the people of this county in as de- 
plorable a condition as could be imagined— without money, credit, 
(4othing or the wherewitlial to eat, with hundreds of wounded and 
disabled soldiers, their farm houses, fences, and farming utensils 
destroyed, and with grave apprehensions as to the future. 

EECONSTEUCTION, 1805-1870. 

Upon the surrender of the Confederate armies, tlie people of Vir- 
ginia accepted the situation in good faith and were ready and 
willing to resume their former position in the T^nion and to loy- 
ally discharge all the duties imposed thereby. The victors in this 
contest had insisted that the one object in view was the preserva- 



546 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

tion of the union of the States, and the people of Virginia sup- 
posed that it was their duty to proceed with their government as 
formerly, and did not anticipate any interference therewith from 
the victors. 

The people of Washington county, pursuant to the proclamation 
of Governor Pierpont, held an election for county officers in this 
county on the 3d day of August, 1865, at which election David C. 
Cummings was elected clerk of the circuit court and James C. 
Campbell clerk of the county court of this county, and Eees B. 
Edmondson Commonwealth's attorney; James Fields, sheriff; 
Commissioners of the Eevenue, District No. 1, John P. Terry; 
District No. 2, D. A. P. Campbell and members of the county 
court, constables, and overseers of the poor. 

Soon after this election the attorney-general of the State gave it 
as his opinion that all persons who had held office under the Con- 
federate States Government were ineligible to office, and as a re- 
sult a number of ofiicers elected in July were compelled to resign 
in the latter part of this year. 

The county court thus elected held several meetings and trans- 
acted some business of importance. 

This court, on the 28th of August, 1865, took into consideration 
the building of a new jail and courthouse for this county. James 
Fulcher, William C. Edmondson and Joseph W. Davis were ap- 
pointed a committee to contract for the erection of the new 
county jail, while John A. Campbell, Newton K. White and W. 
W. Blackford were appointed a committee to ascertain on what 
terms a courthouse and clerk's office could be erected upon the pub- 
lic square ; and on the same day the court proceeded to classify the 
justices for the performance of their duties in court. 

Governor Pierpont, by proclamation, appointed John N. Humes 
and Charles J. Cummings commissioners to reorganize the govern- 
ment of the county, and pursuant to this authority they adminis- 
tered the oaths of office required by law to the members of the 
county court. 

Governor Pierpont, acting upon the opinion of the attorney- 
general, ordered new elections to be held in the counties of the 
State to fill the vacancies occasioned by the resignation of all 
county officers who had held Confederate commissions. 

The county court, on the 26th day of September, 1865, directed 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 547 

the coniiaissioners of eloetion of this coiintv to liohl an election 
in said county on 'J'luirsday, the l--^tli day of October, 1,SG5, for 
tlie election of a rejn-esentative in the Congi-ess of the United 
States, a niendjer of the Senate, members of the Honse of Dele- 
gates, and to take the vote of the electors upon the qiiestion, "Shall 
the next Genei-al Assembly be clothed with power to alter or amend 
the third article of the Constitution according toi law?" 

In tliis election Daniel Hoge, of Montgomery connty, Edmund 
Longiey and Thomas J. McC*ulloch, of Washington county, were 
candidates for Congress, the election resulting in favor of Daniel 
Hoge. 

Joseph W. Davis was elected to the State Senate, and Charles S. 
Bekem and Josiah Teeter were elected to the House of Delegates, 
and a considerable majority was given in favor of clothing the 
General Assembly with })o\ver to alter or amend the third article 
of the Constitution. 

The Congress of the United States and the General Assembly of 
A^'irginia assembled in December of this year. Daniel Hoge was 
not permitted to take his seat in Congress, and Virginia was de- 
prived of representation in the Congress of the United States from 
this time until January 24, 1870. 

But tlie representatives from this county in the Senate and 
House of Delegates were permitted to take their seats, and the 
business of the General Assembly proceeded without interruption. 
Governor Pierpont, piirsuant to the provisions of the Constitution, 
adopted for the State at Alexandria, Virginia, nominated Judge 
John A. Campbell to preside over this circuit, which nomination 
was confirmed by the Legislature on the 22d of February, ISO*), 
Judge Campbell receiving the unaninio.us vote of the General As- 
sembly. 

Eees B. Edmondson, James Fields and John F. Terry were 
compelled to resign the ofhces to which they were elected, and at 
a special election held on January 11, 1866, liees B. Edmondson 
was elected Commonwealth's attorney, James L. Campbell sherilf, 
and Ben C. Clark commissioner of the revenue in District Xo. 1. 

At the November term, 1865, of the county court of this county, 
orders were entered letting to contract the building of a new jail 
and directing the fitting up of the Temperance Hall for the use of 
the court until a new courthouse could be built, and the court was 



548 Southwest Virginia, ll^e-liSS. 

held in the Temperance Hall from the spring of the year 1866 until 
the year 1868. The action of the court in occupying the Temper- 
ance Hall was authorized by proclamation of Governor Pierpont 
in the month of October, 1866. 

The government of the county as thus reorganized was in the 
hands of the best citizens of the county, men who in nearly every 
instance had been active supporters of the Government of the 
Confederate States. 

In the month of December, 1865, York A, Woodward, first lieu- 
tenant Twenty-fourth V. R. C, assistant superintendent Eighth 
District of Virginia, arrived in Abingdon for the purpose of or- 
ganizing the Freedmen's Bureau. His district was composed of the 
counties of Washington, Eussell, Buchanan, Wise, Scott and Lee. 

He established his headquarters at Abingdon and had his office 
in the Swedenborgian Temple on Main street, but subsequently 
his office was removed to the courthouse by permission of the 
county court. 

The Freedman's Court for Washington county was organized at 
the December term of the county court of this county, and was 
constituted as follows: Lieutenant, York A. Woodward, of the 
Freedman's Bureau; John N. Humes, Esq., selected by the county 
court; Colonel D. C. Dunn, selected by the freedmen. This court 
held weekly sessions, commencing Saturday morning of each week 
at 9 o'clock. 

The purpose of this court was tO' determine all matters of diffi- 
culty, civil and criminal, that arose between the whites and the 
freedmen, to take a census of the freedmen in the district, to cele- 
brate the rites of matrimony between freedmen and freedwomen 
and to require all tlie able-bodied freedmen and freedwomen to 
enter into written contracts for their services and to see that the 
contracts were faithfully observed by both parties. 

The organization of schools for the instruction of freedmen and 
freedwomen was also undertaken by this court. 

In this year a white man, by the name of Parks, and his wife 
came to Abingdon at the instance of the Freedmen's Bureau and 
for some time conducted a school for colored children in the build- 
ing now occupied by the colored Masons of Abingdon, on the south 
side of Water street, the land having been purchased for the pur- 
pose. Colonel D. C. Dunn, of his own volition, contributing one- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 549 

half the cost. The object sought to be obtained by the Freedmen'« 
Bureau was accomplished to a great extent in this community, and 
the conduct of Captain Woodward was such as to command the 
respect of all good citizens. 

Captain Woodward remained in Abingdon for some time and 
was succeeded by Capta.in Sherwood. 

TJpon his departure the Abingdon Virginian said: "The people 
of Abingdon and Washington county will regret to hear of the 
transfer, as the official conduct of Captain Woodward has been such 
as to entitle him to the respect and confidence of those with whom 
he had business transactions. The system here worked well under 
his direction and, in the main, gave the fullest satisfaction to 
both races. The Freedmen's Bureau was abolished in the year 1869. 

In January, 1S6G. the General Assembly of A^irginia authorizerl 
the county court of Washington county to sell and dispose of its 
stock in the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Company, and the 
county court of this county, pursuant to this Act, at the May 
term of said court, appointed A. C. Cummings, J. C. Greenway 
and James K. Gibson a committee to ascertain for what price these 
bonds could be sold and upon what terms a courtliouse could be 
built. This committee reported, and the contract for the erection 
of the new courthouse was awarded as follows : To Messrs. James 
and David Fields, the plastering; Mr. Hockman, of Harrisonburg, 
the carpenter's work; Messrs. Keller & Grim, the roofing; Messrs. 
Morrison and Vaughan, the painting. 

The courthouse thus let to contract was completed in Novem- 
ber, 1868, and was occupied by the courts of the county in De- 
cember of the same year. 

Elections were held throughout the county on the 24th of August, 
1866, for field officers in the militia regiments of the county, pur- 
suant to an Act of the General Assembly passed on the 2d day of 
March, 1866. 

At this election the following officers were chosen : 

One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Eegiment — Colonel, James L. 
F. Campbell; Lieutenant-Colonel, David 0. Eush ; Major, Joel W. 
Hortenstine; 

One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment — Colonel, D. A. P. 
Campbell; Lieutenant-Colonel, Robert J. Keller; Major, W. W. 
Hurt. 



550 Southwest Virginia, 17J/0-1786. 

The officers elected in the Oiif lluiKli'od and Fifth Regiment I 
cannot ascertain. 

The militia organization of the eount\', an organization that had 
existed from the earliest tinies^ was aholished hy the Constitution 
of 18GS. 

The "loyal" citizens of Virginia were very much dissatisfied witli 
the manner in wliich the State and county governments were reor- 
ganized and undertook to have tlie Congress of the United States 
set aside the government tlms organized in Virginia and to es- 
tahlish a territoral government in its place. 

The thirteenth amendment to^ the (Constitution of the United 
States had been adopted in tlie year 1805 without opposition from 
the people of this State, but no sooner had the amendment been 
adopted than the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution was 
proposed. This amendment had been vetoed by President Johnson, 
but was passed over his veto by a two-thirds vote of both Houses 
of Congress. 

The General Assembly of Virginia declined, with one dissenting 
vote, to ratify this amendment. 

The Congress of the United States, on the 20th day of Febru- 
ary, 1867, passed the Shellabarger bill, which provided that when- 
ever the people of any of the States lately in rebellion should adopt 
a Constitution framed by a convention ot delegates elected by the 
male citizens of said State twenty-one years of age and upwards, 
of whatever race, color or previous condition (excepting therefrom 
such persons as were disfranchised for participation in rebellion), 
and when the General zissembly of said State should ratify the 
fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, their representatives 
should be admitted to seats in the Congress of the United States. 

On the 2"2d day of March, 1867, another Act was passed over the 
vetO' of the President providing for the registration of the voters 
and the calling of constitutional conventions in the States lately 
in rebellion. 

By tlie }n'ovisions of the Acts in (juestion a great majority of the 
white citizens were denied the right to participate in the elections 
contemplated, and great mieasiness prevailed, as there was strong 
probability that the persons lately freed would be al)le to control 
the State and county organizations. 

The Southern States were divided into military districts, this 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 551 

portion of A'irginia being- District No. 1, commanded by Gcnoi-al 
.Schofield, and, pursuant to the autliorit}- vested in him bv the 
Congress of the United States, on April 2, 18G7, lie issued an nrder 
suspending all elections by the people until the registration of the 
voters had been taken as required by the Act of Congress. 

The Eegisti-ation Board for tliis county was appointed by Gen- 
eral Schofield, and Captain John (VNeal was elected President of 
the board for this county. 

The registration of the voters of this county began on tlie 23d 
day of June and ended on the lyth of July, 18G7. The result of 
the registration in the nine districts of this county was as follows : 

White. Colored. 

First District, 276 170 

Second District, 336 ■ 84 

Third District, 351 42 

Fourth District, 2,78 15 

Fifth District, 309 59 

Sixth District, 280 106 

Seventh District, 201 38 

Eighth District, 279 34 

Xinth District, 112 19 

Total, 2,422 567 

Upon the conclusion of the registration of the voters in this 
county, by order of General Schofield an election was ordered to be 
lield throughout Virginia on the 22d day of October, 1867, for the 
purpose of selecting delegates to a Constitutional Convention to be 
Iteld in Eichmond in December, 1867, and by the same order the 
counties of Washington and Smyth were made one disti'ict aiul 
were entitled to two representatives. 

The two parties existing at Ibis time were termed Conservatives 
and Eadicals, and the candidates voted for in this election were 
Joseph T. Campbell and J. IT. Thompson, Conservatives, and 
G. G. Goodell and Henry C. Wliite, Radicals. The vote of this 
county for delegates in this election and upon tlie (piestion n( ilic 
holding of the convention was as follows : 

White. Colored. 

Campbell (Con) , 1,180 5 

Thompson (Con), 1,175 5 



552 Bouihwesi Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Goodell (Ead.), 416 500 

White (Ead.), 417 498 

For Convention, 433 500 

Against Convention, 1,154 5 



Campbell and Thompson were elected to represent tliis district 
in the Constitutional Convention. This convention assembled in 
the city of Eichmond on the 3d day of December, 1867, and was com- 
posed of a hundred and five delegates, thirty-three of whom were 
Conservatives and seventy-two Eadicals. 

The Constitution proposed by this convention embodied many 
praiseworthy principles, and while some objectionable features 
were found in the instrument as originally proposed, it may be 
truthfully stated that the Constitution as ratified has given greater 
satisfaction to the majority of the people of Virginia than any simi- 
lar instrument adopted in the history of our State. The one serious 
objection to this Constitution, in the opinion of many, was the 
enfranchisement of a great body of illiterate voters, while on the 
other hand it provided for the free school system and gave all the 
guarantees necessary to the enjoyment of personal liberty to its 
fullest extent. 

Tliis Constitution was submitted to the people at an election 
held on the 6th day of July, 1869. 

At the same time an election was held for Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor, Attorney-General, Congressmen, Senator and Eepresen- 
tatives in the House of Delegates. 

At this election the vote of the county was as follows : 

For the Constitution, 3,539 

Against the Constituton, 35 

For Clause 4, 491 

Against Clause 4, 3,109 

For Section 7, 493 

Against Section 7, 3,115 

For Governor— G. C. Walker, 1,971 

H. H. Wells, 569 

For Lieutenant-Governor — J. F. Lewis, 1,969 

J. D. Harris, 531 

For Attorney-General— J. C. Taylor, 3,043 

T. E. Bowden, 663 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 553 

For Oongress — J. K. Gibson, 2,026 

A. C. Dunn, 13 

George S. Smith, 573 

For Congress at Large — Joseph Segar, 1,876 

A. M. Crane, 564 

For State Senate — E. B. Edmondson, 860 

J. S. Greever, 1,163 

Charles McDougall, 517 

For House of Delegates — George Graham, 1,675 

John F. Terry, 1,702 

Harry Eemine, 49,7 

M. L. Ingram, 629 

Jeriel D. Linder, 98 

White voters, 2,212 

Colored voters, 389 



2,601 

The Constitution was ratified by the people, and Gilbert C. 
Walker, John F. Lewis, J. C. Taylor, J. K. Gibson, Joseph Segar, 
James S. Greever, George Graham and John F. Terry were elected 
to the respective offices for which they were candidates. 

James K. Gibson was permitted to take his seat in the Congress 
of the United States on the 34th of January, 1870. 

Early in the year 1868, the Conservative party in Virginia nomi- 
nated a ticket for- Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Attorney- 
General, which ticket was as follows : 

For Governor, Eobert E. Withers, of Lynchburg. 

For Lieutenant-Governor, James A. Walker, of Pulaski. 

For Attorney-General, John L. Marye, of Fredericksburg. 

The object of the Conservative party was not only to elect their 
ticket, but to defeat the Constitution proposed by the convention that 
adjourned on the 15th of April, 1868. Numerous canvassers were 
appointed throughout the State and every preparation was made to 
defeat the Constitution proposed, but in March of the year 1869 
the Eadical convention assembled in Petersburg and two tickets 
were nominated, headed by H. H. Wells and Gilbert C. Walker, 
respectively, the latter being termed the nominee of the Liberal Ee- 
publican party. 



554 Southwrsl Virginia, 17Ji6-]786. 

The State Executive Conunittee of the Conservative party, believ- 
ing this to be the opportunity to accomplish their object, withdrew 
their ticket and decided to support the ticket headed by Gilbert C. 
Walker, with the result that Walker was elected by an overwhelm- 
ing majority. 

On the first day of January, 1868, the term of office of Gov- 
ernor Pierpont having expired. General Schofield appointed H. 11. 
Wells Governor of the State, and on the 27th of Marcli, 1869, an 
order was issned l)y the military authorities removing Wells and 
vesting all executive power of the State in General Stoneman. 

The Congress of the Ignited States, on the 33d day of January, 
1869, adopted a resolution directing the removal of all persons 
holding civil offices under the ]>rovisional governments of Virginia 
and Texas, who could not take the oath prescribed l)y an act of 
Congress passed on the 23d of July, 1806, and conferring upon tlie 
militar-^' authorities the power to fill all vacancies from persons wlio 
could swe^r tlmt they had not engaged in the rebellion against tlu' 
United States. In the month of February, 1869, Judge John A. 
Cam])bell. of the Circuit Court, was removed and John W. John- 
son, whose disabilities had been removed, was appointed Judge of 
this Circuit, and the following persons were appointed to fill vacan- 
cies occasioned by the removal of the officers of the county. 

Clerk of the Circuit Court, John O'Keal. 

Clerk of the Connty Conrt, Charles McDougall. 

County Surveyor, Leonidas Baugh. 

Sheriff, W. A. Dunn. 

Commonwealth- Attorney, Henry V. Anvil. 

At the same time members of the County (*ourt, constables and 
overseers of the poor were appointed by General Stoneman. 

The Constitution, as originally proposed by the convention of 
1868, contained many objectionable clauses, and, had the same 
been adopted as proposed, it woidd have been very disastrous and 
humiliating to Yirgini;i, hiit through the intercession of a com- 
mittee of nine prominent citizens of this State, among the num- 
ber being Go^vernor Wyndham Robertson, of Abingdon, General 
Grant, soon after his inauguration on the 4th of March, 1869, by 
the direction of the Congress of the United States, issued a procla- 
mation appointing July 6, 1869, as the day for the people of the 



Washington Counli/. J 777-1870. 555 

State to vote upon tlic question of llic I'atilieation oi- rejeetiou of 
the proposed Constitution. 

By the terms of this Act of Congress General Grant was autlior- 
ized to submit to the voters of the State, separately, such clauses of 
the propased Constitution as he might think proper, and, pursuant 
to this authorit}^ clause four and section seven of the proposed 
Constitution were submitted to the people to be voted upon separ- 
ately and, as a result, the only objectionable clauses contained in 
this Constitution were eliminated. 

The General Assembly elected on the 6th of July, 1869, assembled 
in Richmond on October otli, of the same year, and, after organiz- 
ing, ratified the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Con^ 
stitution of the United States,* elected two United States senators 
and adjourned to meet again on the 8th of February, 1870. 

On the 28th of Jannary, 1870, the Congress of the United States 
passed a bill admitting the representatives from the State of Vir- 
ginia to their seats in the Congress of the United States. 

When the General Assembly re-assembled on the 8th of Felu'uary, 
1870, they proceeded to reorganize the government of the State 
nnder the Constitution. 

John A. Kelly, of Smyth county, was elected judge of the Circuit 
Court and E. M. Page, judge of the County Court of this county. 
Coimty officers were elected on the 8th of ISTovember, 1870, as fol- 
lows: 

Clerk of the Circuit Court, L. T. Cosby. 

Clerk of tlie County Conrt, W. G. G. Lowry. 

Commonwealth-Attorney, James L. White. 

Sheriff, James L. F. Campbell. 

Treasurer, George Ji. Barr. 

The last term of th(> old Coiinty Couii; was held on llio !Mli day 
of April, 1870, with the following members present: Henry Daven- 
port, John D. Rose and Jacob B. Kent. 

This court, during \is existence, was one of the most valued insti- 
tutions in the State, being well suited to the genius of our ])eople 
and affording a reliable and sjjcedy remedy for wrojigs. 

For a number of years iinniediately subsequent to the close of 
the war. an organization existed in this county and in many por- 
tions of the South, known as the Ku-Klux-Klan, having for its 
object the restriction of that large body <»f frcedmen found in every 



556 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

section of the South, and, in many instances, very difficult to con- 
trol, the object being to restrain the vicious without the commission 
of any wrong against the well-meaning freedman. The terror 
created in the minds of the ordinary freedraen by the mention of the 
word Ku-Klux-Klan would be hard to describe. 

The following notice was published in the Abingdon paper on the 
3d of April, 1868 : 

"NOTICE. 
TO THE UNTEERIFIED KU-KLUX-KLAN. 



No. 969. 



.1- 



X O 



Meet at the Smoky Den of Destruction to hear what the royal 
avenging Giant has to say for the good of this Klan ; be prompt to 
be there at 2 o'clock on the 1st April (night). "^ 

By order of the 4th Demon now in the land." 

In tlie month of January, 1869, a depot was erected by the Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee Eailroad Company near Goforth's Mill, six 
miles east of Bristol, and since that time a considerable town has 
grown up at this point and is now known as Wallace's Switch. 

A Law Library Association was organized in Abingdon in Octo- 
ber, 1869, by James W. Humes and other prominent citizens of the 
town, but for some reason this association was short lived. 

On the ^4th of November, 1870, the sense of the people of this 
county was taken upon a proposition for a county subscription of 
$200,000 to the Norfolk and Great Western railroad, and the propo- 
sition was negatived by a vote of nine hundred and ninety-five 
against, to twO' hundred and thirty-eight for. 

The county of Washington, previous to the year 1873 divided 
into nine districts, was changed in that year, pursuant to an 
Act of the General Assembly, and was divided into six districts by 
M. H. Buchanan, I. A. McQuown, D. A. P. Campbell, John Eob- 
erts, John M. Hamilton and W. P. Wallace, commissioners 
appointed by the County Court of this county for that purpose. 

The names of the districts as tlius established were Glade Spring, 



*This notice was published along with a representation of a skull and 
cross bones. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 557 

Saltville, North Fork, Abingdon, Goodson and Kinderhook Dis- 
tricts. In 1876, by order of the County Court of this county, Hol- 
ston District was established and became the Seventh District of 
the county. 

At this point I will close the history of tlie county, as it has often- 
times been truly said: "Nations only begin to look after the his- 
tory of their founders and search into their origin when they have 
outlived the memory thereof." 

EDUCATION. 

By far the most creditable chapter in the history of Abingdon and 
the people of Washington county, has been the effort of the people 
to afford excellent facilities for the education of the youthful 
inhabitants of Abingdon and the surrounding country. 

William Webb was the first schoolmaster that taught an English 
school in the vicinity of Abingdon. He was an Englishman and 
came to America in the employment of Lord Fairfax, in whose 
land office in the Northern Neck of Virginia he wrote for many 
years at the same time that George Washington, with whom Mr. 
Webb was well acquainted, was surveying for Lord Fairfax. He 
came to Abingdon in 1782 or 1783 with a wife and nine chil- 
dren and was employed by John Campbell, clerk of the county, in 
recording deeds and doing other work in the clerk's office. Soon 
after his arrival Mr. Campbell had a school made up for him, and a 
schoolhouse was built just across the creek from Mr. Findlay's old 
tan-yard, at the head of Black's mill pond, and near where a good 
spring came out from between rocks. The ground was the floor and 
the seats for the scholars were made of hewn slabs placed on forks 
driven into the ground around the walls, and their writing table was 
of the same material placed on forks in the middle of the room. Sucli 
was the furniture of the first school-house in Abingdon. Mr. Webb 
was a very small man, with a round face and sparkling black eyes. 
He was talkative, lively and intelligent, and though feeble, was very 
independent in his opinions, and when aroused was as bold as a 
lion. He had a ready use of his pen and wrote a most beautiful 
hand, as is evident from an inspection of his work now to be found 
in the clerk's office of Washington county. Mr. Webb removed to 
Russell county in 1786, and settled near the present location of 
Tazewell Courthouse, Virginia, and taught school until his death in 
the year 1818. 



558 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

The next teacher of any distinction that came to the vicinity of 
Abingdon was Tui-ner Lane, an Irishman, who had previously 
thereto tauglit school at the Koyal Oak, where Marion, in Smyth 
county now stands. He began to teach school in Abingdon in the 
year 1786, in a house on the land of John Bradley. In 1788 or 
1789 a school-house was built for him near the meeting-house 
spring, at a location within the present enclosure ol the Sinking 
Spring Cemetery. At this location he taught for several years, 
and subsequently removed to Tennessee and settled near Sparta. 
He was a man of good size and appearance, very orderly in his 
requirements in school, but not tyrannical.* 

At this location a school was conducted until the organization of 
the Abingdon Male Academy in the year 1803. 

ABINGDON MALE ACADEMY. 
At the fall session of the General Assembly of Virginia in the 
year 1802, Eobert Craig, Sr., a member of the Legislature from 
AVashington county, at the request of a number of prominent citi- 
zens of Abingdon, introduced a bill in the Legislature of Virginia 
having for its object the incorporation of the Abingdon Academy. 
This bill became a law on the 13th of January, 1803, and provided 
that : 

John Campbell, Robert Craig, Sr., 

Richard White, Robert Campbell, 

James Bradley, Gerrard T. Conn, 

William King, Francis Preston, 

James White, Claiborne Watkins, 

Andrew Russell, William Tate, 

Henry Dixon, Frederick Hamilton and 

David Campbell, 
should constitute a ]>ody jwlitic and incorporate by the name of 
the Trustees of Abingdon Academy, and by that name should have 
perpetual succession, a common seal, and sue and be sued. They 
were given the power to make rules and regulations, to appoint 
officers and remoxe the same, in the establishment and conduct of 
the i^roposed Academy, and vacancies occurring on the Board of 
Trustees were to [)e filled by the surviving trustees.^' 

By this same act the trustees of the town of Abingdon and their 
successors, or the majority of them, were authorized to raise, not 



*Gov. David Campbell MSS. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 559 

exceeding $'<?,0t)(), by lottery oi- lotteries, to be applied by them in 
purchasing a library, philosophical and mathematical apparatus, and 
anything else necessary for the use of the said Academy. 

The school as thus chartered was opened in the Masonic Hall,* 
in the town of Abingdon, in the fall of the year 1803, and the Acad- 
emy was conducted in the same hall until about the year 1820. 

Every member of the Board of Trustees appointed by this act was 
personally interested in the success of the Academy, each contribut- 
ing everything possible to tlie institution and the success of the same. 

Four memJiers of the Board of Trustees of the town of Abing- 
don met at the courthouse in the town of Abingdon on the 18th 
of June, 1803, and, pursuant to the provisions of the Act of the 
Assembly of date January 13. 1803, had the following proceedings: 

"At a meeting of the trustees of the town of Abingdon, at the 
courthouse of Washington county, on Saturday, the 18th day of 
June, 1803. 

Present, Eobert ('ampbell, Andrew Ihissell, Frederick Hamilton 
and James White. 

By an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Vir- 
ginia, passed the 13th day of January, 1803, it is enacted that it 
sliall and may be lawful for the trustees of the said town, and their 
successors or a majority of them, to I'aise by lottery or lotteries, a 
sum, not exceeding two tliousand dollars, to be applied by them in 
purchasing a liiji-ai-y, pliiloso})hical and mathematical apparatus, 
and anything else necessary for the use of tlie said Academy. In 
pursuance whei-eof we have adopted the following scheme of a lot- 
tcrv to be denominated 'The Abingdon Academy rx)ttery,' to raise 
tbe sum of two tliousand dollars for the purposes aforesaid, by 
account of twenty per cent, on prizes alone. 

1 Prize of $1,000. $ 1,000 

2 Prizes of $500, 1,000 

15 Prizes of $100, 1,500 

40 Prizes of $50, 2,000 

50 Prizes of $20, 1,000 

700 Prizes of $5, 3,500 

808 Prizes, $10,000 

1192 Blanks, 

2,000 Tickets(?f $5, $10,000 

*Thi8 hall stood on the lot now occa pied by the new county jail on Water street. 



560 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

The drawing will commence in the Abingdon Academy as soon 
as the tickets are sold, and continiied from day to day until finally 
completed; immediately after which the prizes will be paid to the 
fortunate adventurers. Such as shall not be demanded within six 
months after the close of the drawing will be considered as relin- 
quished. We have adopted the following form of the tickets : 

Abingdon Academy! 

This ticket. No. entitles the drawer to the first 

prize annexed to its number subject to a discount of twenty 
per cent, thereon. 

EOBEET CAMPBELL, 
ANDEEW RUSSELL, 
FREDERICK HAMILTON, 
JAMES WHITE, 

Trustees. 

There can be no question that the drawing under this lot- 
tery took place, but with what success it is impossible to ascertain. 

The first principal of the Abingdon Academy is unknown, and 
the success attending the Academy previous to 1820 is equally 
unknown; but it is probable that the institution received consid- 
erable patronage and to some extent at least met the object of its 
projectors. 

William King, a young man who had been identified with the 
town of Abingdon since an early day in its history, became very 
much interested in the Abingdon Academy, and being a man of con- 
siderable means, at the time of the execution of his will he made the 
following provision for the Academ}'^ — to-wit: I also leave and 
bequeath to the Abingdon Academy the sum of ($10,000) ten thou- 
sand dollars payable to the trustees in the year 1816, or lands to 
that amount, to be vested in said Academy with the interest or rents 
thereon forever." 

His will was probated on the 20th of December, 1808. 

William King was an Irishman and a self-made man in every 
particular, but evidently had received a good English education 
himself. By this act he rendered a great service to many gen- 
erations of people, and his name will be intimately associated with 
the history of his adopted home as long as education is appreciated 
by our people. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 561 

In the fall of the year 1812, tlie following advertisement appeared 
in the "Political Prospect," a newspaper published in Abingdon : 

ABINGDON ACADEMY, 

"The trustees of this institution have the happiness to announce 
to the friends of Erudition, that the muses are about to pour out 
their treasures from the Pierian Spring in this Seminary. To the 
American Youth who thirst for literary acquirements, they offer the 
draughts of : 

LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE, 

Under 
The EEV. THOMAS EESKINE BIKCH, WHOSE TALENTS 
as a preceptor have been so universally authenticated that any 
encomium is unnecessary. 

PEICES FOR TUITION. 

For a novitiate, $10 00 

Beading and writing, 12 00 

English Gram., Aritlmietic, &c., 15 00 

Language & Mathematical Science, Elocution, Philosophy, 
Belles-Lettres and Astronomy, Book-keeping, geography 

and Navigation, &c., 20 00 

Nothing more is known of the Academy at this time. 
The trustees of the Abingdon Academy in the year 1819 insti- 
tuted a suit in the court of this county having for its object the 
enforcement of the provision made by William King in his will for 
Abingdvn Academy. 

Matthew Willoughby, Edward Latham and James Vance were 
appointed commissioners by the court to ascertain the lands o^vned 
by AVilliam King in Abingdon and vicinity, and to ascertain the 
value of said lands and report to the court. 

These commissioners reported to the court at the October term 
thereof, and by a decree of said court entered on the 22d of Decem- 
ber, 1819, the following lands were directed to be conveyed by the 
adult heirs of William King, deceased, and by Jacob Lynch, com- 
missioner of the court, to the trustees of the Abingdon Academy, 
99 acres and 31 poles; 29 acres and 80 poles; 10 1-2 acres; 20 3-4 
acres; 32 acres and 59 poles; 32 acres; 40% acres; 15 acres and 
120 poles; 17 acres and 88 poles; 81/4 acres; 100 acres; 10 quarter- 



562 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

acre lots in the Eobert Craig addition to the town of Abingdon, and 
being lots Nos. 31, 35, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, and 43; 10 quarter-acre 
lots in the David Craig addition to said town, and being lots Nos. 
15, 16, 17, 18, 35, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30." 

Deeds were executed pursuant to this order of the coairt, and the 
trustees of the Academy set about in earnest to make the institu- 
tion of great service to the community. 

Soon after the determination of this suit, the trustees of Abingdon 
Academy employed Nathaniel Holley as principal of the Academy, 
and rented a room for tlie school to be taught in until the Academy 
building could he erected. 

In the year 1824, the Board of Trustees appointed Francis Smitli, 
James Cummings and Earl B. Clapp, curators for the Academy 
land, and in the same year appointed David Campbell, James White 
and Fraaicis Siuith, a conmiittee to select a location for the Academy 
and have the site for the Academy cleared out, and in the following 
year, Francis Smith, John M. Preston and David Campbell, were 
appointed a committee to let the contract for the erection of a brick 
Academy to cost $2,000, and at the same time the Board of Directors 
directed that the cost of the erection of this Academy be paid by 
money raised by private subscription. 

In the year 1826, when the brick Academy was nearing com- 
pletion, the Board of Trustees of the Academy sold and conveyed 
to General Francis Preston, all their interest in the old Academy 
building on Water street, and in the year 1827, occupied the new 
Aca^demy building, and elected William Ewing principal. 

The brick Academy erected in this year was situated upon the 
location of the present Academy building, and was one of the best 
school buildings in Western Virginia at the time. 

William Ewdng served as principal of the Academy until 1833, 
and during his occupancy the attendance was considerable and the 
Academy prosperous. 

From the year 1833 to 1837, Professor Peter McViccar, formerly 
a professor in Hampden-Sidney College, was principal of the Acad- 
emy, and received for his compensation $1,300 yearly. The tui- 
tion fee was $10 per session and the number of students exceeded 
forty. 

In the vear 1833, the trustees of Abingdon Academy decided that 
it would be advisable to unite the male and female schools of the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 563 

town, and appointed a coininitt<?e to ascertain the practicability of 
selling the Academy lands antl uniting the two schools, but this 
undertaking of tlie trustees evidently failed, as there is no evidence 
that the two schools were ever united. 

In the year 1833 there were four scliools for boys in the town 
of Abingdon, conducted by the Eev. David Spyker, Rev. F. L. B. 
Shaver, Samuel Baillie and a Mr. Hathaway, and one school for 
girls. 

In the year 1774, Dr. Thomas Walker conveyed to the minister 
and congregation of Sinking Spring and their successors fifty-five 
acres of land, now in West Abingdon and including Sinking Spring 
Cemetery, and a portion of Fruit Hill and Taylor's Hill. 

In the year 1800 the validity of this deed was questioned by some, 
and on the 11th of January, 1800, Colonel Francis Walker, as 
executor of Dr. Thomas Walker, conveyed this same land to the 
Eev. Charles Cummings and others and their successors. 

In the year 1840, the validity of this last conveyancee was ques- 
tioned, and on the 33d of May in that year, William C. Eives and 
his wife, Judith P. Eives, Mann Page, and Jane F. Page, the heirs- 
at-law of Dr. Thomas Walker, conveyed these lands to the trustees 
of Abingdon Academy and their successors. 

Subsequently it was decided that the first deed executed by Dr. 
Walker was valid and, consequently, all subsequent deeds void. 

The next information that we have of the Academy is in the year 
1849, at wliich time W. A. Woodson and B. F. Ficklin were prin- 
cipals. 

During the administration of Woodson and Ficklin the Academy 
was a military institution, and for a number of years thereafter. 
The students were uniformed and daily drilled. The uniform worn 
by the students was as follows: A coatee of gray cloth with white 
metal buttons, with pantaloons of the same material for winter, 
and white linen or cotton for summer and a blue cloth cap. The 
attendance during this period in the history of the school was 
large, and the school was exceedingly prosperous. 

W. A. Woodson and J. M. Brockenbrough were the principals 
of the Academy in the year 1851, but they disagreed, and J. M. 
Brockenbrough during the following )'ear conducted a school for 
boys in the basement of the Temperance Hall. To this school he 



564 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

gave tlie name of Washington Institute, but tlie school ceased to 
exist after the first year. 

The principals of the Abingdon Academy from 1822 \mtil tbe 
present time have been as follows: 

1823-1837, Nathaniel Holley. 

1837-1833, William Ewing. 

1833-18a7, Peter McViccar. 

1837-1838, Rev. Ephraim D. Saunders, Cumberland county. 

1838-1840, George Clive, Albemarle county. 

1840-1843, Eev. Samuel Matthews. 

1843-1849, John G. Winniford. 

1849-1850, B. F. Ficklin and W. A. Woodson. 

1850-1851, W. A. Woodson and J. M. Brockenbrough. 

1851-1853, W. A. Woodson and W. Y. C. Humes. 

1853-1853, J. E. Blankenship. 

1853-1854, Rev. Thomas Brown. 

1854-1855, Rev. Henry T. Lee. 

1 855-1856, Stephen J. Pendleton, Williamsburg. 

1856-1859, Rev. Thomas Brown. 

185l'-1860, Charles T. Brown. 

1S60-1861, R. H. Hall. 

1S61-1865, William Farmer. 

186r)-1871, Robert P. Carson. 

1871-1873, John H. McRae. 

And since 1873, Robert P. Carson, J. B. Baker, A. P. Wilmer, 
J. W. Cole and B. R. Smith in the order named. 

It is worthy of mention at this point that Jolin G. Winniford, who 
for a number of years successfully conducted the Abingdon Acad- 
emy, was the son of the principal contractor in the building of 
Emory and Henry College, and probably the first graduate of that 
institution. 

Mr. Hall, the principal of this Academy in the year 1861, resigned 
his position as principal of the Academy and enlisted in the service 
of the Confederate States. 

Robert J. Preston, Samuel B. Paston and James G. McChain, in 
the order named, were assistant professors at the Academy during 
tlie administration of Robert P. Carson. 

In the spring of the year 1861, the volunteers from Scott county 
were permitted to occupy the Abingdon Academy temporarily, but 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 565 

this permission was abused, and the trustees of the Academy peti- 
tioned the Secretary of War of the Confederate States to prohibit 
the use of the Academy by the soldiers, and in June, 1862, tliis 
petition ^yas granted and the soldiers forbidden to occupy the 
Academy. 

By the year 1872 the Academy buildings by neglect and bad usage 
had cracked and were in a very dilapidated condition, and the Board 
of Trustees, because of the necessity above stated, began the erection 
in that year of the present Academy building and the brick residence 
near thereto. 

The corner-stone of the Academy was relaid jointly by Waterman 
Lodge, No. 219, and Abingdon Lodge, No. 48, Ancient Free and 
Accepted Masons, on the 15th day of July, A. L., 58?2, A. D., 1873, 
conducted by P. G. M. Thomas F. Owens. 

The program was as follows : 

Eobert E. Withers, Grand Master of Virginia. 

Waterman Lodge, No. 219. 

John C. Campbell, Master. 

Jolin G. Clark, S. W. 

William White, J. W. 

George E. Barr, Secretary. 

Charles B. Coale, Treasurer. 

Abingdon Lodge, No. 48. 
John A. Barrow, Master. 
P. C. Landrum, S. W. 
John D. Cosby, J. W. 
G. V. Litchfield, Secretary. 
W. F. Barr, Treasurer. 

Committee of Arrangements : 

E. M. Page, \ 

George E. Barr, I Lodge No. 219. 

Thomas K. Trigg, j 

G. V. Litchfield, "j 

John D. Cosby, V Lodge, No. 48. 

John A. Barrow, I 



566 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Trustees of Abingdon Academy: 

E. M. Campbell, President. 

John G. Kreger, Secretary and Treasurer. 

James K. Gibson, C. S. Bekem, 

John A. Campbell, A. C. Cummings, 

A. E. Preston, George Y. Litchfield, Sr., 

Charles J. Cummings, N". K. White, 

T. G. McConnell, D. G. Thomas, 

James Fields, S. N. Honaker, 

James L. White. 
Contractors : 

James Fields, Masonry. 

Frank Smith, carpenter. 

The buildings thus begun were completed in a short time, and at 
this day are in use by the authorities of the Academy. 

The trustees of the Academy in the meantime had sold and con- 
veyed the property derived under the will of William King, and, pre- 
vious to 1861, had used the interest arising from this endowment 
fund in discharging the current expenses of the school, but by the 
depreciation of the securities held by the Board of Trustees for this 
fund, the entire fund was exhausted by the erection of the buildings 
before mentioned and since that time the school has been without 
an endowment fund. 

Since the close of the war the follo\\-ing gentlemen have acted as 
principals of the Academy in the order named: Colonel E. P. Car- 
son, J. B. Baker, A. P. Wilmer, J. W. Cole, and B. E. Smith. 

This Academy is situated within view of the Norfolk and AVestern 
Railway and about one-q\iarter of a mile from the depot thereof. 
The grounds consist of about eighteen acres of land, and the 
Academy buildings are situated on a high hill in the midst of a 
splendid grove of poplar, oak and chestnut trees overlooking the 
town of Abingdon, and from this hill a splendid view may be had 
of all the surrounding oountr3^ 

]\Iany of the distinguished men produced by this county and this 
section of Virginia have been students of this Academy, and under 
its present very efficient management many of the sons of this sec- 
tion of Virginia are being prepared for a life of usefulness and 
lionor. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 567 

What this Academy most needs is an endowment fund that will 
enable the trustees to extend the sphere of usefulness of the institu- 
tion, and if some of our well-to-do^ citizens could be impressed with 
the fact that wealth transmitted to descendants has an enervating 
effect and oftentimes destroys the usefulness of excellent men, maybe 
tliey would be impelled to confer a small portion at least of their 
wealth upon this institution, and thereby forever merit the love 
and respect of their fellow-citizens and their posterity. The pro- 
vision contained in the ^T•ill of William King, as above set out, has 
done more to perpetuate his memory and to instill into the minds of 
his posterity and fellow-citizens a sublime respect for his character 
as a man than all the great wealth that passed at his death to his 
relatives. 

Female Education. 

As early as March, 1840, the General Assembly of Virginia in- 
corporated the Abingdon Female Academy with a capital of $50,- 
000, under the management of the following trustees : 

David Campbell, John M. Preston, i 

Alexander Findlay, ' John W. C. Watson, 

John N. Humes, Fairman H. Preston, 

Jacob L3Tich, Daniel Trigg, 

Samuel H. Wills, William Y. C. White, 

Jeremiah Bronough, John C. Greenway, 
John Dunn. 

This school was for many years conducted in a room in the Ma- 
sonic Hall, which was located on Valley street, on now the vacant 
lot between the Presbyterian manse and the resideneee of Mrs. S. 
M. Withers. This school for many years was under the supervision 
of Miss Melville and :\liss Agnes Mitchell (the latter won distinc- 
tion by her production entitled the "Smuggler's Son"), and after- 
wards by :^Iiss Bettie Litchfield, and at one time by the Kev. Thomas 
Brown. 

In the year 1851, ]iliss Bettie Litchileld conducted the school at 
the Masonic Hall, and :Misscs Sallie C. and Elizabetli Balfour con- 
ducted a school for young ladies in the Methodist Protestant church. 

In February of the year 1851, a committee appointed by the 
Holston Conference met in AliingfUm and discussed the propriety 
of establishing a female college within the bounds of the confer- 



568 



Southivest Virginia, 1740-1786. 



ence ; and while this committee failed to establish a school in Abing- 
don, the subject was extensively discussed and was finally brought 
to the attention of McCabe Lodge, No. 56, I. 0. 0. F., of Abingdon, 
and, as a result, the lodge, in the year 1853, projected a plan for the 
erection of a first-class female college in Abingdon, to which was 
given the name of 

MAETHA WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 

This name was suggested by Colonel John Campbell, of Hall's 
Bottom, who, in speaking of this enterprise, said : "If the name of 
your county was the first honor of the kind paid to General Wash- 




Martha Washington College, Abingdon, Va. 

ington, the name you are about to give to your female college will 
be the first of the kind paid to his wife, who shared with him his 
anxieties and hopes in our struggle for liberty and whose domestic 
virtues made her a perfect model of female excellence. By thus con- 
ferring the name you will do honor to the bosom friend of Washing- 
ton, who consoled him during his wonderful career. You will also 
do honor to tJie first settlers of Washington county, who proved 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 569 

themselves in the darkest hours of the revolution to be worthy the 
name that had been selected for their county/' 

The Odd-Fellows Lodge that undertook this worthy enterprise 
was organized on the 27th of June, 1.847;, the following persons 
being charter members : James D. McCabe, John C. Campbell, F. L. 
B. Shaver, Matthew Davis and Charles B. Coale. 

The growth of the lodge was rapid, and its usefulness was un- 
bounded, and by the year 1853 most of the leading citizens of Abing- 
don were active members. 

When the lodge had decided to undertake this enterprise commit- 
tees were appointed to select the location for the college and ascer- 
tain the cost thereof, to solicit subscri])tions from the citizens of the 
town and county and from otlier lodges, and shortly thereafter the 
lodge purchased from William Y. C. White about ton aci'os of land, 
on the hill north of the county courthouse for the sum of twelve 
hundred dollars, the purchase uioney being paid in casli. W. W. 
Blackford, a member of the lodge, was employed to furnish the plan 
for said college, which, plan was i-e ported and adopted, and contracts 
were let for the building of a large three-story building intended 
as the main building of tlie college. 

In the meantime the General Assembly of Virginia, on the 3d 
day of ]\Iarch, 1854, incorporated tlie proposed college under the 
name and style of the Trustees of tlie ]\Iartha Washington College, 
the following gentlemen lieing named as trustees: B. R. Johnston, 
James IT. Dunn, James Fields, David C. Dunn, John L. Bradley, 
Samuel Garner, George 1?. Barr, Samuel Logan, William K. Heis- 
kell, Thomas L. Preston, Peter E. B. C. Henritze, Henry W. Baker 
and Jolm C. Cummings, to which board were subsequently added 
Charles B. Coale and John G. Kreger. 

This board organized by the election of Thomas L. Preston as 
president of the board. 

The ladies of the town were interested, and conducted several 
fairs for tlie benefit of the college. A Gift Enterprise was conducted 
at Al)ingdon and 50,000 tickets were sold at $1.00 each. Fifty thou- 
sand gifts were bestowed upon the holders of the tickets sold, among 
the gifts being a farm of 150 acres of land, house and lot in the town 
of Abingdon, piano, carriage, buggy, certificates of scholarship in 
the proposed college, and several thousand steel engravings of the 
proposed college buildings. 



570 South ircsi Virf/inia, 171)6-1786. 

By the year 1858 the main biiihling of the college was about com- 
pleted and the grounds somewhat improved, when, during a very 
severe storm, the building was so badly injured as to make it neces- 
sary to tear it down and rebuild it, and it was apparent that the 
lodge would not be able to complete the undertaking as at first pro- 
posed, although they had expended $30,000 thereon. 

At this time the Kev. E. E. Wiley, representing the Holston Con- 
ference, submitted a proposition to the lodge on behalf of the confer- 
ence. The lodge accepted tlie proposition of the conference, and 
the college, with its debts, real estate and subscription list, was 
transferred to the Holston Conference, the transfer taking effect 
on Monday, June 14, 1858. 

The conference immediately began preparations for the comple- 
tion of the enterprise undertaken by the lodge, and soon thereafter 
purchased from Thomas L. Preston the present location of the col- 
lege for the sum of $21,600. 

The property thus purchased was the former residence of Gen- 
eral Francis Preston, and the home at one time of William C. Pres- 
ton and John S. Preston, of South Carolina ; Mrs. Wade Hampton, 
South Carolina; Mrs. Eobert J. Breckenridge, of Kentucky; Mrs. 
General Carrington, of Albemarle county ; ]\Irs. John B. Floyd, 
Mrs. James McDowell, of Bockbridge, and ]\Irs. John M. Preston, of 
Abingdon. 

The General Assembly of Virginia incorporated Martlia Wash- 
ington College on the 33d of February, 1860, naming the following- 
trustees : 

George V. Litchfield, Ephraim E. Wiley, 

Milton Y. Heiskell, T. P. Hoofnagle, 

B. R. Johnston, William P. Bishop, 

C. B. Coale, W. K. Heiskell, 
Thomas S. Stewart., Edmond Longiey, 
Joseph Haskew, Thomas G. McConnell, 

John A. Campliell. 

This board organized by the election of John A. Campl)olI as 
president, and the first session of the school was duly opened on 
March 15, 1860, and, save for the suspension of a few months in 
the year 1863, has continued in successful operation to the present, 
the last few years being the most prosperous in its entire liistory. 

This college can boast of more than three hundred and fifty grad- 



WnsJiinf/foii Counfij. 1777-1870. 571 

nates, representing all of the Sontliern States and many of the 
Northern and Western States. 

The description of the l)nildings and grounds is best given by one 
of the original ti'iistees of this college: 

'*The buildings and grounds are of the most elaborate and mag- 
nificent order, unsurpassed for 1)eauty and convenience in the South 
or out of it. The grounds comprise eight acres, and are gorgeously 
ornamented with trees and shrults and flowers. There are more 
than a mile of continuous serpentine walks for the young ladies 
to promenade in, all tastefully bordered with flowering shrid)bery. 
Fruits in great variety, including berries and grapes in great al)und- 
ance, grow in all parts of the gronnd, at all times in their season 
accessible to tlie inmates, and the young ladies seem, in their beau- 
tiful and well-ordered "home school," to be as happy as the first 
inhabitant of Eden before that Snnlr ramp along. The buildings 
are extensive, convenient and im]>osing, and capable of accommo- 
dating from 125 to 150 boarders. The Faculty is equal to any 
anywhere; and if we were young again, we believe we might be 
bewildered at the sight of the bright eyes, snnny curls and fairy- 
like forms tliat sport amid the flowers of the campus on calm sum- 
mer evenings. Some of our young men are half crazy now, but 
they dare not pass tlie enclosure, except to see a sister or a cousin, and 
they all have cousins of course, and even then nearly every tree and 
bush and flower seems to say — "thus far shalt thou go and no 
further."* 

The buildings, four in number, are constructed of brick, and are 
heated bv steam and are liglitcd by incandescent electric lights. 

The principals of this college during its very useful career have 
Ijeen : \\. \. llai-ris. 11. Arbogast, W. W. Jones. Wari'eii Dupree, 
E. E. Ifo-s. K. E. Wiley. D. S. Hearou. S. X. Karker and W. ]\I. 
Dyer. 

STONEWALL dACKSOX IXSTITUTE. 

Tn the year LS()8, a number of the ])rominent citizens of Abing- 
don, ])rincii)ally afliliating with the Presl)yterian Churcli. feeling 
it necessary Ib.at anolher school foi- the education of girls should be 
established in Ibis section n\ the Stale, undei'took the founding of 
such an in-lilution in the town of Abinirdon. 



♦Charles B. Coale. 



573 



Southwest Virginia,. 17Jf6-17S6. 



The location selected was the brick residence erected by General 
John S. Preston in the year 1833, and lots Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13, 20, 
21 and 3-4 of lot No. 9, in West Abingdon. This property was 
occupied by General Preston until his removal to South Carolina, 
and then by Governor Floyd until the time of his death. 

After the death of Governor Floyd, his wife, Sally B. Floyd, and 
W. B. Byars, trustee, conveyed this property to A. L. Hendricks, 
who, on the IGth of January, 1868, sold and transferred the same 
to the trustees of Martha Washington College. 




Stonewall Jackson Inslitvite, Abingdon, Va. 

When it was definitely determined to undertake the establish- 
ment of tliis school, the trustees of the Sinking Spring Presbyterian 
Church, purchased from the Trustees of Martha Washington College 
the property above mentioned, and the gentlemen interested at 
once met and organized a Board of Trustees composed of the fol- 
lowing gentlemen : W. Y. C. White, A. C. Cummings, T. P. Clapp, 
F. B. Hurt, Robert A. Preston, T. M. Clapp, James W. Preston, Rev. 
James McChain, D. G. Thomas, D. C. Dunn, S. A. Preston, 
D. C. Greenway and J. G. Kreger, and elected the following officers ; 

President, W. Y. C. White. 



Washington Count ij, 1777-1870. 573 

Vice-President, A. C. Cummings. 

Secretary, John G. Kreger. 

Treasurer, Samuel A. Preston. 

The Trustees of the Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church 
appointed the Eev. A. L. Hogshead as agent to solicit subscrip- 
tions to the new enterprise, and the Board of Trustees gave to the 
new institution the name of Jackson Female Institute, and selected 
the Eev. Samuel Davies Stuart, of Staunton, Virginia, as principal 
of the institution for the first year, and the Eev. Thomas Brown as 
principal professor. The first session of this school began on the 
15th of September, 1868, with a large attendance and bright pros- 
pects. The name given to the institution was bestowed and intended 
as a tribute, so far as such an act can constitute a triliute, to a 
majestic character, a great name tliat will over shine with un- 
dimuied glory upon the page of history. 

When Generiil Lee received information of the organization of 
this institution he addressed tlie following letter to the principal 
of the Institute, expressing his feelings in regard thereto : 

Eev. S. D. Sliiart: 

In reply to yours of the Kitli instant in reference to the Stone- 
wall Jackson Institute, 1 assure you that any scheme designed to 
perpetuate the recollections of the virtue and patriotism of General 
Jackson meets with my approval. As he was a friend of learning, 
I know of no more effective and appropriate method of accomplish- 
ing the praiseworthy object in question than the establisliment of 
an institution in wliicli the young women ol' our country ni;iy he 
trained for the impoi-tant and responsible duties of life. 1 hope 
the institution established by the people of Southwest Virginia, a!ul 
dedicated to the memory of General 1\ J. Jackson, may meet with 
entire success and prpve a blessing to the State. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. E. LEE. 

What more fitting monument could be erected to the memory of 
General Jackson, who was loAcd cliiefly for his patriotism, gen- 
tleness, truth, his love for his family and his God, than an institu- 
tion of learning of this character. 

Could General Jackson know the maimer in which the young 
lady pupils of this institution are taught and witness them in their 
uniforms of Confederate gray, he would feel that this is the grand- 



574 South west Tin/inia. 17Jf6-1786. 

est nioiniiiioiit tJiat lias yet been erected to liis name l)y a loving 
people. 

By the year 1870, it was i'oiuul nect'ssavy to have this institution 
ineorjxirated, and the General x\.ssenil)ly ot Virginia, on the 27th of 
June, ISTO, incorporated the same with the following Trustees: 
W. Y. C. White, T. P. Clapp, James W. Preston, 8. A. Pres- 
ton, Da\i(l C. Dunn, Floyd B. Hurt, D. G. Thomas, John G. 
Kreger, David C. Greenway, II. S. Preston, E. H. Barnett, George 
P. Barr, James W. Humes, George W. Palmer, A. C. Cummings, 
Isaac B. Dunn and Joseph P. Anderson. 

I. B. Dunn and Joseph P. Anderson declined to serve as trustees 
and P. M. Page and John A. Buchanan were elected to fill the 
vacancies. 

Considerai-de difficulty was experienced by the trustees of this 
institution in relieving it from its inde])tedness, but after a few 
vears the financial condition of the institution was such as to 
justify the erection of a commodious addition, three stories in height, 
at the east end of the original biiilding, and about ten years ago a 
handsome 1)uilding was erected at the west end of the original build- 
ing, and the grounds were terraced and placed in excellent condi- 
tion. 

The trustees of this institution until recent years were selected, 
one-half by the trustees of the Institute and the other half by the 
trustees of linking Spring Presbyterian ("hurch, Init, in the year 
189(), the trustees of the Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church 
transferred their interest in the institution to Abingdon PreslDytery, 
and the cliartcr of dackson Female Institute was amended by the 
General Assembly changing the name to Stonewall Jackson Insti- 
tute and provides for the a]j]jointnient of new trustees by the Abing- 
don Presljytery and tlTe trustees of the Institute. 

It may be said that this institution bids fair to experience in the 
near future such an era of prosperity and usefulness as is seldom 
witnessed, and that not without cause. 

Could the fathers and motbeis of onr country know and expe- 
rience the gentle Christian-like influences that are constantly 
exerted by the principal of this institution in her dealings with her 
])upils, they could not hesitate to intrust their daughters to her care. 

1'iie Institute is situated ui)on a beautiful eminence on west Main 



WdsJi liKjIoii I'dunhj. 1777-1870. 575 

street, the grouiids are stiifkk'd with handsome shade trees, all of 
them of full growth, many of them of stately stature and patri- 
archal age; the surface is undulating in graceful teiTaces and inter- 
sected by winding paths. The front and sides of the campus are 
enclosed with a handsome stone wall, surmounted throughout its 
entire length by an artistic iron fence. The buildings occupy the 
crest of a hill of considerable elevation above the street upon which 
they front and from which they are quite far removed, while the 
town of Al)ingdon is 2,05,7 feet above the level of the sea. In salu- 
brity of climate, which is an important consideration in selecting a 
school. Southwest Virginia is not excelled by any other section of 
the country. 

The principals of the institute since its founding have hocn: 
Ilex. Samuel D. Stuart, Thomas D. Davidson, A. Q. Holliday, Kev. 
John 0. Sullivan, J. D. Anderson and Miss Kate M. Hunt. 

Under the present administration the institute has received a 
larger pati'onage than in any preceding ])eriod of its history. 

EMORY AND HENRY COLLEGE. 

From an early day in our jiistoi-y tbc need of an institution of 
learning that would afford educational advantages of a high order 
was keenly felt, and foi- many years the practicability of establish- 
ing such ftn institution was discussed by the leading citizens of this 
section of our country, l)ut no practical results were obtained until 
al)Out the year IHo'.l. Colonel William Byars, Tobias Smith, Alex- 
ander Findlay and the Rev. Creed Fulton, aboid, this time, uiulei-- 
took the establishment of such an institution in this county, and 
had made some ju'ogress, wbon the llolston Confci'cnce of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Cliurcb. at its fall session of 1885, held in Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, resolved to establisb in Southwestern Virginia a 
manual lalior college, and soon thereal'ti'i-. on the Oth of April, 1836, 
Colonel William Byars and Alexander Findlay purchased from 
George jM. (-raw ford and tbe other devisees of the Rev. Edward 
Crawford, 554 1-2 acres of land foi- tlie sum of -$1,158.75. 

The lands thus pui-cbased were situated on tbe waters of Cedar 
creek, described in the deed as the walei-s of tbe Little llolston creek, 
and were the same lands that were surveyed by John Buchanan, 
deputy surveyor of Augusta county, foi- Colonel .lames AVood, on 
the 26th of March, 187-1 and the 24th of March, 1749. These 



576 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



lands were devised by Colonel Wood to liis wife, Mary Wood, and 
by lier conveyed to James Dysart and Matthew Eyburn, executors 
of John Beattie, deceased, and by Dysart and Eybnrn conveyed to 
the Eev. Edward Crawford, and by the Eev. Edward Crawford 
devised to his children by his wife, Jane.* 

The Uolston Conference, at the same time that it decided to 
establish the mannal labor school in Southwest Virginia, commis- 




Emory and Henry College, Emory, Va. 

sioned the Eev. Creed Fulton as an agent to solicit funds for the 
^indertaking, Avhich duty he immediately proceeded to discharge. 
Upon his return from Knoxville, a meeting of the citizens of the 
upper end of tlijs county was held at the Old Glade Spring Church, 
having for its object the obtaining of subscriptions for the enter- 
prise. This meeting was largely attended and $5,000 was sub- 
scribed to the enterprise at that time and ])lace,f aud soon there- 
after another meeting was held in Abingdon at which a subscription 
equally as large was obtained. In the meantime Colonel William 
Byars, Alexander Findlay and Tobias Smith were furnishing the 



■*The will of Rev. Edward Ciawford -was probated on January 21st, 1823. 
fToMas Smith was the first snbscriher, his epbecription being $500. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 577 

luoijcy and were giving tlieir time to the erection of buildings upon 
the location selected for the school, being the lands purchased by 
Byars and Findlay from George M. Crawford and others. 

The corner-stone of the main college building was laid with 
Masonic ceremonies on the 30th day of September, 1836, in the 
presence of a large concourse of people. The contract for the build- 
ings had been previously let to Lyle & Sheppard and the carpen- 
ters' work to George \^'inniford, and by the spring of 1838 the 
buildings were sufficiently advanced to justify the opening of the 
school, and the first session began on the 13th day of April, 1838. 

The name given to this college was Emory and Henry College, in 
honor of Bishop Emory and Patrick lienr}^, and the Rev. Charles 
Collins was elected the first president of the college. 

Colonel William Byars was elected president and Alexander Find- 
lay secretary, of the first Board of Trustees of Emory and Heni*y 
College. The first Board of Trustees of Emory and Henry College 
was composed of the following gentlemen: 

Colonel William Byai-s, John W. Price, 

Alexander Findlay, John W. C. Watson, 

Tobias Smith, Eev. Creed Fulton, 

Daniel Trigg, M. D., Eev. Nathaniel Sherman, 

Colonel Thomas L. Preston, John N. Humes, 
Eev. Thomas Catlett, Nickerson Sncad, M. D., 

Eev. Arnold Patton. 
This school, in its inception, was called a manual labor college, 
and was intended as an institution in which the pupils were to be 
taught to labor with their hands as well as to think. They were to 
be- permitted to woi'k upon the farm and to receive credit ujwn 
their tuition and board for labor thus performed, and while tJiis 
feature of the institution was maintained for many years, it was 
finally found to be impracticable and was abandoned. One hun- 
dred students Avere enrolled durmg the first year, and, as far as 
patronage was concerned, the school was prosperous. 

This institution was incorporated by an act of the Assembly 
approved March 5, 1839, and on the 24th of December, 1840, Wil- 
liam Byars, Alexander Findlay and Catherine Findlay, his wife, 
conveyed to the trustees of Eniory and Henry College the lands 
they had purchased from the devisees of the Eev. Edward Crawford 
in 1836, and in this deed William Byars retained a lien on the 



578 Soullurcsi Virgima, IIJ^G-IISO. 

IjukI? lluifi convcvG(] to secure to himself the sum of $7,-100, and to 
Alexander Findla}- and John I). Mitchell $2,000, money advanced 
h}' them in tlie establishment and support of said college. 

By the year 1843 the trustees of the college found the institu- 
tion considerably in debt and petitioned the General Assembly of 
Virginia for a loan of $18,000 from the Literary Fund, and by an 
Act of the Assembly approved on the 37th of February, 18-43, the 
directors of the Literary Fund were authorized to loan to the 
trustees of Emory and Henry College the sum of $18,000, provided 
the trustees of said college would secure the payment of said sum of 
$18,000 and its interest l)y a deed of trust upon all their property, 
and by good personal security, and pursuant to this Act of the Assem- 
bly the trustees of the college on the 24th of March, 1843, executed 
to Beverly E. Johnston a deed of trust tipon all their real estate in 
this county to secure the said sum of $18,000 and its interest, and 
William Byars, Alexander Findlay, Tobias Smith and other prom- 
inent citizens of the county became endorsers on, their note. 

This incumbrance upon the propert}- of the college was discharged 
on August 20, 1890, l)y the trustees o-f Emory and Henry College 
conveying to the Board of Pul)lic Works of Virginia 248 1-2 acres of 
their real estate situated at Emory. 

It slioidd be stated to the credit of the management of this insti- 
tution tliat, from the year 1843, the college, without an endowment, 
was free from, debt for about thirty years, and that the income from 
tuition and board was not only sufficient to meet the current 
expenses of the school, but the trustees were enabled to make con- 
siderable improvement during this time, such as the erection of 
liandsome buildings and enlarging the library and apparatus. The 
patronage of the school reached 280 pupils in the year 18G0, and 
since the close of the war has varied from 80 to 150. 

Colonel William Byars and Governor Wyndham Eobertson, each, 
in the early history of the college gave to the trustees a sum of 
money the annual interest of which has for many years furnished 
the Byars' Medal for the highest proficiency in Natural Sciences, 
and the Robertson prize medal for encouraging oratory, while Pro- 
fessor James A. Davis donated to the college valuable instruments 
costing about $700. 

Moi-e than five thousand young men have been educated and more 
than five hundred have graduated from this institution in its his- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 57§ 

tory. It has accompli shed great good in its time, and the prospects 
are that it will accomplish untold benefits to oiir country in the 
future. 

The presidents of this institution have been : 

1837-1852, Eev. Charles Collins, M. A., D. D. 

1852-1879, Eev. Ephraim E. Wiley, M. A., D. D. 
^ 1879-1880, John L. Buchanan, M. A., LL. D. 
* 1880-1884, Eev. David Sullins, M. A., D. D. 

1884-1885, Eev. E. Embree Hoss, M. A., D. D. 
and since that time, Thomas W. Jordan, Eev. James M. Atkins 
and Eev. E. G. Waterhouse. 

The location of Emory and Henry College is in a beautiful val- 
ley nine miles east of Abingdon, just south of the extreme west end 
of Walker's mountain, and cannot be excelled for its beauty and fer- 
tility anywhere in our country. The college is situated 2,000 feet 
abo^e the level of the sea, with the White Top mountain in plain 
view, and directly upon the line of the Norfolk & Western Bailway. 

LIBEETY HALL ACADEMY. 

Liberty Hall Academy was founded in 1866 — thirty-seven yeai's 
ago. It has ranked high as a school ever since. Its founder was 
Eev. James Keys, who had taught successfully for many years in 
Johnson county, Tennessee, and was driven out by the war. It is 
a commodious brick building, built at Mr. Keys' own expense. He, 
as principal, assisted by his daughter, Mrs. T. W. Hughes, had 
charge until 1878. 

His patronage exceeded that of auy other school in the county ex- 
cept Emory. In the year above mentioned Mr. Keys retired on ac- 
count of age and infirmity, and the property was purchased by a board 
of gentlemen of the Presbyterian Church. This purchase was made 
in 1878. The object was to continue the school, and to that end they 
signed and placed an agreement on record that the property should 
be used for school purposes forever. 

The first principal after the purchase was Professor T. W. 
Hughes. He continued in charge seven years, and was succeeded by 
Eev. Mr. McClure, who resigned at the end of the second year. He 
was succeeded by a number of gentlemen who remained for brief 
periods and whose success was not conspicuous. Professor W. J. 
Edmondson, at present county superintendent, became principal 
in 1891, and continued in charge six years. The character of the 



580 Southwest Virginia, 17 46-1786. 

school was fully sustained under bim and the patronage very large. 
His successor was I'rofessor W. G. Edmondson, wlio resigned at the 
end of the second year, and was succeeded by Professor Sam 
Edmondson, the present principal. 

Liberty Hall has been a school for thirty-seven years. Its average 
patronage has been large. Its instructors have generally been men 
of first-class attainments. Its standard has always been high, and- 
no similar institution in Southwest Virginia has fitted as many 
young men for college or sent into the ranks so many of the teachers 
of our common schools. 

While Liberty Hall Academy is nominally Presbyterian, it is not 
in any sense denominational. 

An effort is now being made to secure an endowment of $10,000, 
by which means the salary of the principal will be secured, and rates 
of tuition correspondingly lowered. 

BAERACK INSTITUTE. 

While the writer has but little information in regard to' Solomon 
G. Barrack or the history of the institute established by his donation 
near Love's Mill in this county, he thinks it worthy of note that 
Solomon G. Barrack, a citizen of this county, and of very limited 
means, by his will, which w^as executed prior to the war between 
the States, devised the larger portion of his estate to Leonidas Love, 
to be invested by him upon undoubted security as a school fund, 
and directed that said fund be kept on interest, and the interest 
expended yearly in paying the salary of a competent teacher under 
the direction of Leonidas Love, David Jones, Oscar Love and 
Charles Meek, and by the same will directed the erection of a school- 
house upon a piece of land near Love's Mill, Virginia. 

The gentlemen above named were incorporated under the name 
and style of Trvistees of Barrack Institute in the year 1866. The 
school-house provided for was erected undey their supervision and 
for now more than thirty-five years the youth of that community 
have been enjoying the benefits of educational advantages that they 
would not have enjoyed had the founder of this institution been 
actuated by selfish motives alone and conferred his property upon 
his relatives. 

The memory of Solomon G. Barrack is entitled to a position 
along-side that of William King, and th'e memory of both sho'uld be 
honored and respected by the citizens of this county. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 581 

WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN.! 

*"This is a peak in the Appalachian range, here more familiarly 
known by the local name of Iron mountain, and near the point 
where the three States of Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina 
all unite at a common corner. It is about twenty miles from 
Abingdon the way the crow flies, though perhaps thirty by the 
intricate bridle paths through intervening mountains, by which it 
is approached. Until within a few years comparatively, owing to its 
inaccessibility, it was almiost in its primitive state, and visited 
only by hunters and trappers, and here and there a "squatter," who 
may have fled to its fastnesses to evade those penal exactinents which 
a certain class of men in most communities deem oppressive. It is 
some 5,000 feet high from base to summit, and Tipwards of 6,000 
feet above the level of the soa. Its summit is a vast field compris- 
ing from 300 to 500 acres, without a tree or shrub, and covered with 
a luxuriant growth of wild grass resembling that of our north- 
western prairies, which is highly nutritious and cropped with 
insatiable avidity by vast herds of stock driven from the neighbor- 
ing settlements to graze and fatten. During the months of May' 
and June, this field, as well as a large portion of the wooded parts 
of the mountain, is gorgeously carpeted with wild flowers of every 
imaginable hue, and so fragrant that their perfume is often wafted a 
considerable distance on the wings of the wind, which sometimes 
sweeps across the broad fields like the dying throes of a hurricane, 
with fitful shrieks of wild and melancholy music. 

Bordering this natural field arc great numbers of native goose- 
berry and currant bushes, which yield their acrid fruits in never- 
failing abundance, and the wild leopard lily, springing from' its 
rocky bed, sways to and fro and scatters its rich perfume as the 
blast sweeps by. 

Upon the very summit, various springs of ice-cold water gush 
from the rocks and leap down the declivities, bablfling their wild 
music as they disappear among the magnificent rhododendrons and 
the dazzling crimson of the Indian pink. These waters are so 
pure and light that they never oppress, no matter how freely the 
thirsty visitor may quaff them. 

The field above referred to is bordered by a very singular as 



tFor illustration see page 282. 
♦Charles B. Coale. 



582 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

well as very beautiful growth of timber, known in that region by 
the name of Lashorn. Some of these trees grow to an immense 
height, but generally are not more than from thirty to fifty feet 
high, and, what is very remarkable, where not crowded they are 
perfectly flat on top, spreading out to a diameter of fro^m fifteen 
to thirty feet. It is a species of, and very much resembles, Norway 
spruce, an ornamental tree often found in the yards of our more 
elegant city residences. The Lashorn of White Top mountain is 
peculiar to that locality, and of the thousands that have been trans- 
planted, not one has ever been known to grow, though some have 
lived several years. The limbs at the top where they spread out are 
so tenacious and inflexible, and so closely interlaced, that the writer 
has seen as many as twenty persons standing and stepping about 
upon the top of the same tree at the same time. It is very easy to 
ascend and descend, as the limbs usually begin at the ground, and 
being cut oft' about a foot from the trunk, a very convenient "Indian 
ladder" is formed, and then a hole being cut through the foliage 
.in the centre of the top,it is not difficult for even a ladyto ascend and 
step out upon the vernal platform. Where the forest of this singular 
and beautiful growth is dense there is no undergrowth, the trees 
limbless to the height of forty or fifty feet, the tops intermingling 
and forming a canopy the sun can scarcely penetrate, and the earth 
covered with a carpet of lichen moss which feels to the tread as 
soft and elastic as a sponge. During the summer months these 
trees are literally alive with snow birds, the little creatures con- 
gregating here in millions to build their habitations and rear their 
young. 

Notwithstanding the romantic beauty of this grand elevation, 
and the exhilarating effects of the highly rarified atmosphere upon 
the system, hundreds and thousands have lived and died within sight 
of it without ever having paid it a visit. The reason for this has 
been the diSicidty of access, want of accommodations in the vicinity, 
and the mere cattle paths by which it is approached through deep 
and intricate gorges, over steep foot-hills, and through almost 
impenetrable laurel jungles, sometimes infested by bears, wolves, 
wild-cats and rattlesnakes. There are but few of these "varmints" 
there now. 

The view from the summit of the White Top is grand beyond 
description or even conception. Looking toward the south, you havQ 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 583 

within the scope of vision, stretching away from east to west, the 
Blue Eidge Eange, which, in the dim distance, looks like an azure 
band bordering the horizon, with here and there a tall peak hiding 
its head in the clouds. To the east, mountain piled upon mountain 
meets the view, their gentler slopes in places dotted with "clearings," 
and a colunm of smoke, here ascending and there lying in long 
folds along the mountain side, denoting the rude habitation of the 
ruder "squatter." Looking toward the north you have the grand old 
Cimiberland range, the barrier that divides the "Dark and Bloody 
. Ground" from the Old Dominion, as if swelling up from an ocean of 
green, and struggling to lift itself above the vapor that hangs lazily 
upon its sides. To the- west the view, though less imposing, is not 
less beautiful. You have before you the broad valley of the Holston, 
which, although diversified with hill and dale, bold promontories and 
pine-clad ridges, still, from the altitude from which you look out 
upon it, has the appearance of a vast sea dotted with picturesque 
islands. In the distance the spires and tin roofs of the town of 
Abingdon glisten in the sunlight, large plantations look like blan- 
kets spread out in the forest, and at intervals, as it dashes out from 
behind a blufp, or winds its way through a green pasture, may the 
White Top Fork of Laurel be seen, like a serpentine thread of silver, 
its sparkling waters shimmering like diamonds among the foliage 
and wild flowers upon its bank. 

The writer of this has enjoyed the luxury of many a magnificent 
scene in his wanderings, but has never seen that from the summit 
of the White Top excelled, or even equaled. He was there on one 
occasion when a storm came riding on the blast more than a thou- 
sand feet below where a company of gentlemen were standing. The 
whole valley was shrouded as with a pall. The deep-toned thunder 
bellowed below, preceded by brilliant flashes of lightning, illuminat- 
ing the dark bosom of the cloud. The scene was awfully grand, and 
30 far transcends the powers of mortal description, that he would 
not dare attempt it." 

NATUEAL BEIDGE AND TUNNEL OF SCOTT COUNTY. 
One of the curiosities of Southwest Virginia is the Natural Tun- 
nel and Bridge of Scott county. It spans a turbulent and rapid 
stream bearing the name of Stock creek, and like the Natural Bridge 
of Eockbridge county has a public road passing over it. It is not so 
perfect a bridge as that of Eockbridge county, but is much grander 



584 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

in proportion and is laid out upon a much more stupendous scale. 
It is by actual measurement 420 feet high^ about twice as high 
as the Natural Bridge of Eockbridge county, and the face of the 
structure is as smooth and perpendicular as if fashioned by the skill 
of a mason. Its imperfections consist in being much wider than 
long, and in the small proportion of arch to the immense mass of 
rock above it. It is really more of a tunnel than a bridge, although a 
public road crosses the chasm upon it. The tunnel is not straight, 
but is in the shape of an S, and from two to three hundred yards in 
length."* 

The track of the Virginia and Southwestern Eailroad is located 
through the tunnel, and the arch is far more than suflBcient for the 
Da.^?age of the train. In the vicinity of the tunnel there are several 
large caves in which are found a great variety of stalactites and sta- 
lagmites in all stages of formation, and in these caves are found 
Indian bones and many Indian relics. 

SALTVILLE VALLEY. 

Tbe location of the Saltworks in this county was surveyed by John 
Biiclianan, a deputy surveyor of Augusta county, for Charles Camp- 
bell, on December 12, 17'48, and in the plat that was returned with 
tlu' t^urvey,f the words "Buffalo Lick," are written, and a patent for 
the same was procured from the Governor of Virginia in 1753. 
Chailes Campbell was the father of General William Campbell, of 
King's mountain celebrity, and, upon his death. General Campbell 
became the owner of this tract of land, but the presence of salt water 
upon this property was not discovered until about the time of the 
death of General William Campbell, which occurred in 1781. 

General William Campbell left two children, Sarah Buchanan 
Campbell and Charles Henry Cam})bell, the latter dying at the 
age of five years, and Colonel Arthur Campbell and Col-ouel Wil- 
liam Christian, upon the death of General Campbell, qualified as 
guardians of his children, and they proceeded to improve this 
property to a considerabe extent. 

When the General Assembly of Virginia voted Charles Henry 
Campbell five thousand acres of land in consideration of the distin- 
guished services of his father. Colonel Arthur Campbell, his guard- 



*Charle3 B. Coale. 

tSurveyor's record, Augusta county, Staunton, Va. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 585 

ian, entered this grant in the name of Charles Henry Campbell on 
lands adjoining the Salt Lick tract, and this land passed, upon 
the death of Charles Henry Campbell, to his sister, Miss Sarah 
Buchanan Campbell, afterwards Mrs. General Francis Preston. 

Some years after the death of General Campbell, his widow mar- 
ried General William Eussell, who moved with his family to the Salt 
Lick in February, 1788, and built what was afterwards known as 
the "Madam Eussell" house. 

General Eussell dug a well on the margin of the flat in front of 
his house, obtained salt water, and built a furnace and salt houses ; 
the furnace was an open shed, and the kettles were the camp kettles 
of that da}^, of a capacity of from eight to ten gallons. 

A dispute arose between General Arthur Campbell and General 
William Eussell, and, in 1789, the court appointed Colonel Thomas 
Madison, an uncle of Sarali Buchanan Campbell, her guardian in 
the place of Colonels Campbell and Christian. In 1790 Colonel 
Thomas Madison removed to the Salt Lick, built a log cabin upon 
the location of what was afterwards known as the Preston House, 
and, digging a well, began the manufacture of salt, and continued 
to manufacture it at this place until the marriage of his ward to 
General Francis Preston in 1793. 

In the meantime General Williaju Eussell had died at the home of 
his son, Eobert L. Eussell, in Culpeper county, on the 14th of Jan- 
uary, 1793. 

In 1795 General Francis Preston l)uilt an addition to the log 
cabin of Thomas Madison, and, in 1797, upon his retirement from 
the Congress of the United States, moved with his family to the 
Salt Lick, and made his home there until the year 1810, when he 
removed to Abingdon. 

Soon after General Preston located at the Salt Lick, he had 
another well dug near that of Colonel Madison, and enlarged the 
furnaces and the kettles. 

In 179;") William King bought 150 acres to the we«t of the Preston 
tract, and in 1799 erected fnrnact^ and otber buildings thereon and 
began the manufacture of salt. On the 20th of February, 1801, he 
rented the Preston Salines for the period of ten years, for $12,000 
per year, and manufactured salt with great success until the date of 
his death, which occurred in 1808. From that time until the year 



586 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

1819, the works were carried on by James King, William Trigg, 
Mary King, Charles S. Carson, executor of James King, and Lilburn 
L. L. Henderson, execntxjr of William Trigg. 

On the 17th of June, 1819, the Saltworks were leased to John 
Saunders for five years from August 1, 1819, at an annual rental 
of $30,000, but Saunders, during the following years, assigned his 
lease to James White, who renewed the lease and continued his 
operations until September 2, 1833. The Saltworks were then leased 
to Alexander McCall and William King at an annual rental of 
$15,972 for the King Saltworks, and $16,000 for the Preston 
Salines, during the life of Mrs. William Trigg, and they continued 
in possession of the property until 1845, when Thomas L. Preston 
took charge of the Preston Saline, and King and McCall and Finrl- 
lay, Mitchell & Company took joint possession of the King Salt- 
works. 

In 1846 Thomas L. Preston rented the King estate from the 
court at an annual rental of $16,000 for five years, and at the 
expiration of his lease, Wyndham Eobertson became the lessee 
thereof for the period of five years, and was in turn succeeded by 
Thomas L. Preston, who, in the year 1858, rented both estates in 
Spencer, Ackerman & Company. In 1863, Stuart, Palmer and 
Parker purchased the Preston property, and in 1864 a joint stock 
company of the two estates was formed under the title of the Holston 
Salt and Plaster Company, and this company continued business 
until 1893, when the present proprietors of the Mathieson Alkali 
Works became the owners of the two estates. 

The King Salines, in the year 1819, produced from 90,000 to 
100,000 bushels of salt per year, and in 1861-1865 the production 
of the Saltworks was many times greater than in the year 1819. 
The larger portion of all the salt used in the Southern States during 
that time was supplied from the Saltworks, it being a common thing 
to see as many as a thousand salt wagons at one time at the Salt- 
works during the period mentioned. 

Since 1893 the present company have manufactured soda and 
other alkalies upon an extensive scale, and employ hundreds of 
hands. 

In the eighteenth century, and soon after the discovery of salt 
water at the Salt Lick, the bones of a mammoth, the king of the 
land animals, were dug up by the laborers at the Preston Salines, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 587 

They were from three to seven feet below the surface of earth, and 
furnished convincing proof that the mammoth was formerly an 
inhabitant of this country. 

NEWSPAPEES. 

By the year 180G, the enterprising citizens of this county had 
secured the services of a printer, and a newspaper outfit had 
arrived at Abingdon, and on the 4th day of January, 1806, the 
first newspaper published in this portion of Virginia was given to 
the public. The editor of this paper was John G. Ustick, who 
afterwards married a Miss Berry, of this county, and the name of 
the paper was the Holston Intelligencer and Abingdon Advertiser. 
This paper was published every Tuesday, and the subscription price 
was $2 per annum, payable half-yearly in advance, if the sub- 
scription was paid in cash, but if paid in produce the subscription 
was required to be paid for the entire year in advance. When the 
subscriber neglected to pay his subscription in advance, the price 
was fi.fteen shillings per annum, half of which was to be collected at 
any period after the commencement of each six months, subscrip- 
tions to the paper to be withdrawn at the end of each six months 
on the payment of arrearages, but not otherwise. The terms of 
advertising were 62 1-2 cents per square for the first insertion and 
three dollars for chancery notices. This paper was ably edited by 
Mr. Ustick, was imcompromising in its llepublicanism, advocating 
the policies of Madison and supporting his administralioa upon all 
occasions. 

In the year 1812, Mr. Ustick changed the name of this pajxM- from 
the Holston Intelligencer and Abingdon Advertiser, to the Political 
Prospect, and continued to publish the Political Prospect until the 
year 1830. 

Mr. Ustick was not only an enterprising editor, b\it he was a 
patriotic citizen, and in February, 1815, being a member of the 
Eifle Company formed at Abingdon, ho accompanied this com- 
pany upon their expedition to Norfolk and was absent from his 
home for nearly five months,as he says, "in the service of a righteous 
government and a holy cause." Tlie descendants of the editor of the 
first newspa]>er published in tliis portion of Virginia have entirely 
disappeared from among our people. 

Mr. Ustick was succeeded by James Alexander, who imhlishcd a 
newspaper in Abingdon from lS;3()-lS;;r). under the tiih' of I ho 



588 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

Virginia Republican. As to the character of this paper I can say 
nothing, as I have been unable to obtain a copy of the same. 

Alexander was succeeded by J. W. Lampkin, who published a 
newspaper in Abingdon from 1835-1838, called the Virginia States- 
man. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Lampkin formed a partnership with Charles 
B. Coale, and this partnership published the Southwest Virginian 
from 1838 to 1840, in the old frame building that stood on the 
southeast corner of the jail lot in the rear of the courthouse. No 
copy of the Virginia Statesman or Southivest Virginian is now in 
existence, and nothing is known of the policy or character of these 
papers. The editors of these papers were men of character and 
ability, John W. Lampkin being a young lawyer of fine attain- 
ments. He subsequently married and removed to Eussell county, 
where his descendants are to be found at this time, while Charles B. 
Coale continued to reside in Abingdon, and won a place in the 
hearts of the people of this country that will be forgotten only 
when -the sons of the fathers who had the pleasure of reading tlie 
old Abingdon Virginian have all passed away. 

In 1840, John N. Humes became the owner and editor of the 
Southwest Virginian and published the same in the building occu- 
pied by the Academy of Visitation east of the creek in East 
Abingdon. 

While no copy of this paper has been preserved, there can be no 
question as to its politics, as John N. Humes was one of the leaders 
of the Whig party, at the time in question, in Southwest Virginia. 
In this year, he was the elector for this district upon the presidential 
ticket headed by William Henry Harrison. 

In March, 1841, George E. Barr and Charles B. Coale became the 
owners of the Southwest Virginian and began the publication of 
the Abingdon Virginian as a Whig paper in the town of Abing- 
don, and continued the publication of this paper until the year 
1873, with but one interruption. 

When the town of Abingdon was destroyed by fire on the 15th of 
December, 18G4, the Abingdon Virginian was published in the 
brick building opposite the Colonade Hotel (now occupied by C. A. 
Pobst), and, of course, was destroyed at the same time that the 
building was burned. The publication of the Abingdon Virginian 
was resumed in December, 18G5. This paper during the thirty- 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 589 

three years that it was published by Coale & Barr, was, beyond doubt, 
one of the most readable and deservedly popular country newspapers 
tJiat have ever been furnished to' the public in this section of Virginia. 
During the war between the Stat^, notwithstanding the great difh- 
culties which confronted the newspaper publisher, the Abingdon 
Virginian never failed to stand nobly by its people or to issue weekly 
until the destruction of its plant as b'efore described. 

In the year 1863, the following advertisement appeared in the 
Abingdon Virginian: 

"EAQ S ! 

"We call upon everybody who has rags, rich and poor, old and 
young, learned and unlearned, to send them to us and get four 
cents per pound, or more if demanded. We are obliged to have 
them or stop printing. So send them along for humanity's sake, 
and help us to keep the machine in motion." 

In the year 1873, the Abingdon Virginian was transferred to 
George E. Dunn, and soon afterwards became the property of 
George W. Ward. 

The Abingdon Virginian, as published by Coale & Barr, advo- 
cated in a high-toned and able manner the Whig cause, and the ef- 
fect upon tlio politics of the people would have been exceedingly 
dangerous if not counteracted. 

In December, 1841, at the instance of the Democratic leaders in 
Washington county, Robert Latham became the editor and W. E. 
Fitzsimmons the publisher of a Democratic paper in the town of 
Abingdon called The Banner. This paper, a copy of which is now 
in existence, was a very creditable publication. In the copy now in 
existence is to be found an account of a Democratic mass-meeting 
held in the town of Abingdon on the second of March, 1843, at 
which meeting Colonel Sanmel E. Goodson was nominated for the 
Legislature, and in the proceedings of the meeting Colonel Harold 
Smyth, Colonel William Byars, Eobert Latham, Dr. Nick Snead, 
Tobias Smith, John W. S. Watson, Parker Smith and James Davis 
took an active part. This paper survived but a few years, and was 
succeeded by a paper called the JacTcsonian, edited by W. E. Fitz- 
simmon. The Jacksonian was published in a house owned by Jack- 
son Toncray, on the lot now owned by S. N. Honaker, opposite the 
former residence of James K. Gibson in East Abingdon. 

The Jacksonian ceased to exist in 1846, and the outfit was sold 



590 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

to Dr. H. F. Peery, who removed the same to Jeffersonville, now 
Taziewell Courthouse, Virginia, and, in the year 1847, began the 
publication of the Jeffersonville Democrat. 

On tlie 28th of April, 18-49, Leonidas Baugh, of Abingdon, be- 
gan the publication of the Abingdon Democrat, a paper strong in 
its advocacy of Democratic principles, to which the greater part oi 
its space was devoted. This paper thrived for a number of years, 
but was transferred by Mr. Baugh some time after his appointment 
as postmaster at Abingdon, in 1853, to John B. Floyd, and the paper 
was thereafter, until the year 1857, published by J. M. H. Brunet, of 
Petersburg, who soon died, and then the paper passed into the hands 
of Stephen J. Pendleton. 

In the year 1857, this paper was sold at public auction to pay 
the debts of Mr. Pendleton, and Henry W. Baker became the editor 
and owner thereof, and continued to publish said paper until 1861, 
when the plant was sold tO' the Southern Advocate, Groodson, Vir- 
ginia. 

From this time until the year 1876, the Abingdon Virginian was 
the only newspaper published in Abingdon. 

In April, 1883, George W. Gary, of Eiclunond, began the publi- 
cation in Abingdon of a monthly paper called The Trade Journal, 
and continued the publication of the same until the year 1883, when 
he became the owner and editor of the Abingdon Virginian. Mr. 
Gary conducted an excellent and successful paper until the year 
1890, when the entire outfit was sold and transferred to the Abing- 
don Publishing Company, which company had become the owner 
of the Standard, a Democratic newspaper that had been established 
in Abingdon in the year 1876 and was edited by Hindlay Harris, 
afterwards by Samuel P. Withers and then by E. E. Hardwick. 

The Virginian, under the management of Judge Ward, strongly 
advocated the cause of the Eeadjuster party in Virginia. After 
the retirement of Judge Ward from the Abingdon Virginian, he 
became the owner and editor of the Southivest Examiner, a Eead- 
juster-Democratic paper, but after Judge Ward went upon the 
bench the Southwest Examiner passed into the hands of E. E. 
Hardwick and in a short while ceased to exist. The Abingdon 
Virginian, during the ownership of the Abingdon Publishing Coiin- 
pany, was edited by Thomas H. Mason and W. F. Smith. 
While the paper was well edited, it was a financial failure, and in 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 591 

the year 1896 was sold at public auction and purchased hy L. P. 
Summers. The Virginian from this time till June, 1901. was an 
advocate of Eepublican principles and was a success financially. 

Upon the acquisition of the Ahingdon Virginian by hammers 
in 1896, and during the five years of his oavaei'ship, a number of 
efforts were made by the advocates of the Democratic party to estab- 
lish a Democratic paper in the town. 

In the year 1897, the Glade Spring Citizen was removed to 
Abingdon and began publication as a Democratic paper, ''The 
Citizen'' with G. C. Porterfield as editor, but within the year the 
newspaper outfit became the property of the editor of the Virginian, 
and Mr. Porterfield became a strong advocate of the Eepublican 
party. 

In the year 1899, J. W. Lyons, of Greenville, Tennessee, became 
the editor of a newspaper in Abingdon, to which was given the 
name of the Abingdon Democrat. 

This effort upon the i)art of Mr. Lyons proved a failure and in 
the spring of the year 1900 he returned to Greenville, his former 
home. 

In the fall of the year 1900, Thomas S. Hamilton and George H. 
McCormick began the publication of the Washington Herald, a 
Democratic newspaper, in the Scott building in West Abingdon. 
This venture also proved a failure, and the property of tlie Herald 
was sold and transferred to the editor of the Virginian, in the same 
year, since which time no effort has been made to establish a rival 
newspaper to the Virginian in Abingdon. 

On the night of the 29th of May, 1898, the Greenway store was 
destroyed by fire; the offices of the Abingdon Virginian caught 
therefrom and the entire outfit was destroyed, but by the fall of the 
same year a one-story brick building had l)ecn erected upon the site 
of the former frame l)uilding and the publication of the Virginian 
was resumed. 

The Virginian became the property of E. M. Slack by purcliasc on 
June 11, 1901, and has since been edited by him. 

The prasent editor of the Abingdon Virginian is young, intelli- 
gent, independent and enterprising to a degree that is seldom 
excolTod in this country, and in the opinion of the author he is the 
best-equipped newspaper man that the town has seen in many years. 



592 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

The newspaper of which he is the editor is beyond question the 
best country newspaper to be found in the Southwest, 

JUDICIAEY. 

A distinguished historian has said that "the laws of a country 
are necessarily connected with everything belonging to the people 
of it, so that a thorough knowledge of them and their progress 
would inform us of everything that was most useful to be known 
about them, and one of the greatest imperfections of historians in 
general is owing to their ignorance of law."* 

While a thorough knowledge of the law is necessary to a com- 
plete understanding of the history of a country, at this point we 
regret the necessity that compels to a brief notice of the courts tliat 
have administered the law in this Commonwealth and county. 

Prior to the Eevolutionary war, the laws of this Common- 
wealth were administered in the county or monthly courts and in 
a general court which was held first at Jamestown and afterwards 
at Williamsburg. 

The coimty or monthly courts were composed of a number of 
persons commissioned by the Governor and Council, and theirs 
was an extensive jurisdiction, while the general court was composed 
of the Governor and Council, any five constituting a court, and it 
had jurisdiction to hear and determine all causes whatsoever relating 
to or concerning any person or persons, ecclesiastical or civil, or to 
any person or thing of any nature whatsoever, whether brought 
before them by original process, appeal from an inferior court or 
by any other way or means, its jurisdiction being limited only to 
controversies of the value of ten pounds sterling or 2,000 pounds 
of tobacco and upwards. It had exclusive criminal jurisdiction of 
all cases of free persons wherein the judgment on conviction was 
loss of life or member. 

After the Eevolution, the coimty courts were continued and a 
Court of Appeals, High Court of Chancery, a General Court and a 
Court of Admiralty were established. The judges of said courts 
were chosen by the General Assembly and commissioned by the 
Governor. 

The Court of Appeals was established in May, 1779, and was 
composed of the judges of the High Court of Chancery, General 

*Priestly. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 593 

Court and Court of Admiralty, until 1788, when five judges were 
chosen by the General Assembly and commissioned by the Governor. 
This court, from the tiniie of its establishment until 1830, was the 
supreme civil tribunal of the State, and since that time it has been 
the supreme civil and criminal tribunal of the State. 

The first president of this court was Edmund Pendleton. The 
General Court was composed of ten judges and was the supreme 
criminal tribunal of the State until 1830, when it was abolished. 
The Admiralty Court ceased to exist upon the adoption of the Fed- 
eral Constitution. 

County Courts. 

"The institution of the County Court originated as early as 
1623-4; and as it is the most ancient, so it has ever been one of the 
most important, of our institutions, not only in respect of the 
administration of justice, but for police and economy. They were 
first called monthly courts. At first only two of them were estab- 
lished, and their jurisdiction was jealously limited to petty contro- 
versies, reserving for the party cast the right of appeal to the Gov- 
ernor and Council, who were the judges of what were then called 
quarter courts. In 1643-3, the style of montlily courts was changed 
to that of county courts, the colonial assembly having previously 
begun and continuing thenceforward to enlarge their duties, powers 
and jurisdictions and to extend the system to every county, as it 
was laid off. As early as 1645 they had been matured into courts 
of general jurisdiction, in law and equity, and the most important 
duties in the matters of police and economy were confided to them. 
In 1661-2, the Governor and Council were constituted itinerant jus- 
tices, to sit in the county coi^rts, but that provision was repealed the 
next year. Hitherto the judges of the county courts had been styled 
commissioners of the county courts, but in 1661-2 it was enacted 
that they should take the oath of justices of the peace and be called 
justices of the peace. These tribunals now assumed a perfectly 
regular form and their functions were ever after so important 
that their institution may well be considered as a part of the Con- 
stitution, ])ot.h of the colonial and the present government. No 
material change was introduced by tKe revolution in their jurisdic- 
tion or general powers or duties of any kind."* 

The county court remained unchanged until the year 1850, and 



*Henning's Statutes at Large. 



594 Southwest Yirginm, 1746-1786. 

it is impossible for any man to estimate the character and utility of 
this system without actual experience of its operation. The mem- 
bers of this court, prior to 1850, were recommended to the Gov- 
ernor by the county courts of their respective counties, were com- 
missioned by the Governor and held office during good behavior. 
They served without pay and were selected by reason of their charac- 
ter and ability. 

The Constitution of 1850 made the members of this court elective 
l)y the people, and they were allowed a small fee for their services. 
From this time until the year 1870, we find a great deterioration in 
the character of the members of this court, and its efficacy was to a 
great extent destroyed. This court was abolished by the Constitu- 
tion of 1868. 

Can anyone question the character and efficiency of a court pre- 
sided over by such men as Arthur Campbell, William Campbell, 
Daniel Smith, William Edmiston, James Dysart, John Kinkead, 
Robert Craig, James White, John Goodson, Eobert Davis, John 
Gibson, Eeub'en Bradley, James Cummings, John Preston, Jr., 
Francis Preston, Charles Tate, William P. Thompson, Thomas 
McChesney, John M. Preston, John Eakin, M. B. Tate, Tobias 
Smith, Henry Davenport and many others, presiding justices of this 
court during its existence ? 

Upon the abolition of the old county court by the Constitution 
of 1868, a new institution came into existence,^ to-wit : the county 
court of the present time. This court exercised a criminal jurisdic- 
tion concurrent with the Circuit Court and a limited civil jurisdic- 
tion. The first session of this court in this county was held on the 
85th day of April, 1870, Judge P. M. Page presiding, Leonidas 
Baugh clerk, and Beverly R. Johnston Commonwealth's Attorney. 

This court has been abolished by the Constitution of 1903, and 
will cease to exist on the first day of February, 1904, and such a 
thing as a county court will no longer be heard of in this Common- 
wealth, after an existence of nearly 300 years. 

The judges presiding in this court since the date of its forma- 
tion in 1870 are as follows : 

1870-1880, E. M. Page. 

1880-1881, George W. Ward. 

1882-1886, William F. Rhea. 

1886-188.7, Francis B. Hutton. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 595 

1887-1897, George' W. Ward. 

1897-1904, David C. Cumraings, Jr. 

The attorneys representing the Commonwealth in this connly 
from the organization of the county imtil the year 1850 were 
appointed first by the Attorney-General of the State, upon the 
recoiuniendation of the county court, and were after that time 
elected by the county court. 

The first Commonwealth's Attorney of Washington county, being 
the first lawyer qualifying to practise in the courts of this county, 
was Ephraim Dunlop, who came from Pennsylvania. He had but 
one leg, the other having been amputated above the middle of the 
thigh. He had some capacity, but was a drunkard. He was 
appointed prosecuting attorney for this county in the year 1777, and 
was pretty severe upon the Tories, many of whom had taken refuge 
in the mountains. On one occasion Dr. Brooks, whose right arm 
was palsied, was passing along the road below town when he found 
Dimlop, who had fallen from his horse, lying with his foot in the 
stirrup and his head on the ground, the horse standing perfectly still 
and quiet. The Doctor having no use of his right arm and Dunlop 
having but one leg, made the case a difficult one to decide what he 
should do. He dismounted, bowever, and succeeded in getting Dun- 
lop into his saddle, intending to take him to the next house. After 
balancing and straightening Dunlop as well as he could in his saddle, 
he mounted his own horse and they started, but in a few yards 
Dunlop made a move in his saddle and down he went again. The 
horse seemed to be conscious of the state of things and stood still 
again. The Doctor dismounted again and raised Mm to his horse's 
back, then, Ijy riding close to him on his leg side, he kept him 
from falling until he brought him to a house, half a mile from 
where he fell. 

When sob'er, Dunlop was intei-esting. At the bar he would rise 
and place his stump of a thigh on the bar and in that manner steady 
himself and then proceed Avith whatever he bad to say to tlie court. 
He was listened to with attention. 

After the courts were organized in Sullivan county, he attended 

them, and some ten or fifteen years afterwards died on the road 

between Abingdon and Bl-ountville. I believe he had no family.* 

Since the year 1852, the attorneys representing the Common- 



*David Campbell MSS. 



596 Southwest Virginia, HUte-lHSd. 

wealth in this county have been elected by the people. The attor- 
neys representing the Commonwealth in this county since the organ- 
ization of the county have been as follows : 

1777, Ephraim Dunlop. 

. . . ., Benjamin Estill. 

1831, Henry St. Jolm Dixon. 

1831-1837, Edward Campbell. 

1837-1855, Samuel Logan. 

1855- , George Eakin Naff. 

1855-1863, John H. Ernest. 

1863-1865, Joseph T. Campbell. 

1865-1869, Eees B. Edmondson. 

1869- , Henry C. Auvil. 

1869-1870, J. S. Slater. 

1870- , Beverly E. Johnston. 

1870-1873, James L. White. ' 

1872-1884, Connally F. Trigg. ^ ,: 

1884-1885, George W. Ward. 

1885-1887, John L. Eowan. 

1887-1891, John C. Summers. 

1891-1895, Francis B. Hutton. 

1895-1904, Feter J. Davenport. 

The clerks of the county court from the organization of the gov- 
ernment of this county until the year 1853, were elected by tJie 
county court, and since the year 1853, they have been elected by 
the people. The clerks of this court from its first organization until 
the present time have been as follows : 

17,77-1779, David Campbell. 

1779-1834, John Campbell. 

1834-1837, David Campbell. 

1837-1858, Jacob Lynch. 

1858-1865, John G. Kreger. 

1865-1869, James C. Campbell. 

1869-1870, Charles McDougal. 

1870-1871, Leonidas Baugh. 

1871-1887, William G. G. Lowry. 

1887-1897, David C. Cummings, Jr. 

1897-1904, Eobert Preston Cummings. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 597 

District Courts. 

The General Assembly at its session in the year 1784, for the pur- 
pose of rendering the administration of justice more expeditious 
and convenient and less burthensome to individuals and to the 
Commonwealth, passed an Act establishing courts of assize through- 
out the Commonwealth, for the trial of issues and inquiry of dam- 
ages, in suits then pending in the General Court, and such as may 
thereafter be brought, and also for the trial of all treasons, felonies 
and other crimes and misdemeanors that should be brought before 
the court. This court was to be held by two judges of the General 
Court, and it was directed that all verdicts of said court should be 
certified to the General Court at Eichmond. The State was divided 
into districts. The counties of Montgomery and Washington 
formed one district, and it was directed that this court of assize 
should meet at Washington Courthouse and Fort Chiswell, alter- 
nately, on the lOth day of May and on the 11th day of October of 
each year. This Act never went into operation, but after several 
suspensions it was succeeded by an Act of the Assembly, in the year 
1788, establishing district courts. 

The Act establishing the district courts became a law on the 22d 
day of December, 1788, and directed that the Commonwealth, except 
tKe district of Kentucky, should be divided into districts, and a 
superior court held in each on the 9th of June and the 9th of 
November in each year. 

The counties of Washington, Montgomery and Russell composed 
one district, and it was directed that a court should be held at Wash- 
ington and ^Montgomery courthouses alternately, on the 2d day of 
May and the 2d day of October in each year. This court was to 
be held by two judges of the General Court assigned for that pur- 
pose. The jurisdiction of the district courts, as fixed by this Act, 
was as follows : "Over all persons in all causes, matters or things at 
common law, then cognizable in the General Court, amounting to 
thirty pounds sterling money or 3,000 pounds of tobacco, whether 
brought before the court by original process or by appeal from the 
County Court." This court was given the power to hoar and deter- 
mine all treasons, murders, felonies and other crimes and misde- 
meanors committed within their district. 

Claiborne Watkins was the first clerk of this court, and lived at 
Abingdon and discharged the duties of this office for many years. 

Thje Act establishing the district courts was amended in December, 



598 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

1789, and it was directed that Washington, Wythe and Kussell 
counties shoukl form a district, that the next court for said 
district should he held at the courthouse of the county of Wythe, 
late the courthouse of the county of Montgomery (Fort Chiswell), 
and that, thereafter, every court for said district should be held at 
Washington courthouse. This court continued to exist until it was 
succeeded by the Superior Court of Laws, established in the year 
1808. 

The General Assembly in the year 177,7, established a High Court 
of Chancery composed of three judges selected by the General 
Assembly and commissioned by the Governor, to hold office during 
good behavior. This court was held at Williamsburg and afterwards 
at Eichmond, in the months of April and September of each year, 
with a general jurisdiction over all persons and causes in chancery, 
Mdiether by original process or appeal, where the amount in con- 
troversy exceeded ten pounds. The judges of this court were after- 
wards reduced to one, George Wythe, who was the president of the 
first court. 

On the 23d of January, 1802, the General Assembly of Virginia 
divided the State into three districts and established a superior 
court of chancery in each. The county of AVashington was included 
in the Western District, and the High Court of Chancery for this 
district was directed to be held at Staunton on the 12th of Marcli, 
the 1st of July and the 15th of November of each year. This court 
exercised the jurisdiction formerly exercised by the High Court of 
Chancery as originally established, and was to' be held by a judge 
selected by the General Assembly and commissioned by the Governor. 

The Honorable Jolm Brown, of Staunton, was elected judge of 
this court and discharged the duties of the same until the year 1827, 
when he was succeeded by the Honorable Allen Taylor, of Botetourt 
county, who discharged the duties of this office until the year 1831, 
when this court was merged into the Circuit Superior Court of 
Law and Chancery. 

The General Assembly in 1818 divided the Commonwealth into 
nine districts, instead of three districts as formerly, and directed 
that a Superior Court of Chancery should be held in each of said 
districts. 

The counties of Lee, Eussell, Scott, Washington, Tazewell, Wythe, 
Grayson, Giles and Montgomery composed the Eighth District, and 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 599 

a Superior Court of Chancery was held at Wythe courthouse on the 
Monday first succeeding each term of the Superior Court of Law 
for the said county in every year, and after this time a Superior 
Court of Chancery was held at Wythe courthouse, by Judge Brown 
until 1827, and by Judge Taylor until 1831. 

A portion of the records of this court are still to be found at 
Wythe courthouse, and present to the practicing attorney at this 
day a clear idea of the proceedings of the court of that time. 

During the existence of this court, every paper connected with a 
chancery cau^e was recorded in the minute book of the court, and 
in one case decided hy this court the process, bill, answer, deposi- 
tions of witnesses and other papers connected with the suit fill one 
entire book of several hundred pages.* 

The General Assembly, on the 1st of February, 1808, amended 
the Act of 1789 establishing the district courts, divided the Com- 
monwealth into twelve districts, established a superior court of law 
in each of said districts and directed that a judge of the General 
Court should be allotted to each of said districts and should hold a 
superior court of law twice a year at the courthouse of each county 
in said district. 

The counties of Grayson, Washington, Lee, Eussell, Tazewell, 
Giles, xMontgoiueiT and Wythe conqjosi.d the Fourth Circuit, and 
the Hon. \Aiil!;)iii i^)i'ock('nbroiigh, a jndg(^ of tlie General Court, 
was assigned to this district and dischaigcd the duties of the same 
with marked ability until j\iay, 1811, when he was succeeded by the 
Hon. Peter Johnson, f a judge of the General Court, who discharged 
the duties of the office until June Gth, 1831, when the Superior Court 
of La\. was U'Ci-god into the Circuit Superior Court of Law and 
Chant cry. 

The General Assembly of Virginia, pursuant to the provisions of 
the Constitution of 1829-1830, rearranged the conrts of the Com- 
monwealth and established the Circuit Sijperior Court of Law and 
Chancery, which court superseded the Superior Court of T>aw and 
the Superior Court of Chancery. 

The first session of this court was held at Abingdon on the Gth 



*Pierce vs. Jackson, etc 

f Judges Bio(kenl)rouj;li and Jyhnston exchanged circuits, Johnston being a 
native of Prince Edward county. 



600 Southwest Virginia, lUfG-nse. 

of June, 1831, Benjamin Estill presiding. This court continued to 
be the principal court of this section until the year 1870, when some 
alterations were made in the jurisdiction of the court and the name 
was changed to the Circuit Court. 

The judges presiding in this court during its existence have been 

1831-1852, Benjamin Estill. 

1852-1857, George W. Hopkins. 

1857-1862, Samuel V. Fulkerson. 

1862-1869, John A. Campbell. 

1869-1870, John W. Johnston. 

1870-1895, John A. Kelly. 

1895-1904, John P. Shefl'ey. 

Judge Fulkerson, in the spring of the year 1861, was elected col- 
onel of the Thirty-seventh Virginia Eegiment of Volunteer Infan- 
try, in which capacity he served until the fall of 1862, when he 
was shot and killed in one of the battles near Richmond. During his 
absence in the army Judges Andrew S. Fulton, David McComas and 
G. D. Camden presided over the courts held at Abingdon. 

The Constitution adopted in the year 1902 made some alterations 
in the courts of the State, and the General Assembly of Virginia on 
the 12th day of February, 1903, elected Francis B. Hutton, of 
Abingdon, judge of the Twenty-third Circuit, composed of the coun- 
ties of Eussell, Washington and Smyth. 

Upon the organization of the district court in the year 1788, 
Claiborne Watkins was appointed clerk of the court, and, as far 
as I can ascertain, he and Andrew Russell performed the duties of 
this office until the year 1830. 

The clerks of the old District Court, the Superior Court of Law, 
the Superior Court of Chancery and the Circuit Superior Court of 
Law and Chancery were appointed by the court until the year 1852, 
and from that time they have been elected by the people. The clerks 
of the Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery and the Cir- 
cuit Court have been as follows : 

1831-1838, Andrew Russell. 

1838-1852, Connally F. Trigg, Sr. 

1852-1865, Peter J. Branch. 

1865-1869, David Campbell Cummings, Sr. 

1869-1870, John O'Neal. 

1870-1871, Dr. A. R. Preston. • • 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 601 

1871-1887, L. Thomson Cosby. 

1887-1893, John G. Kreger. 

1893-1904, John M. Kreger. 

When an effort was made to secure the photographs of the 
deceased judges of this court for use in this history, the propriety of 
securing and placing their photographs in the courthouse of this 
county was discussed by several members of the bar, and, as a result, 
a meeting of the bar was called for the 8th of October, 1901, which 
meeting, after discussing the matter, appointed Daniel Trigg, James 
L. White, F. B. Hutton, E. M. Page and L. P. Summers, a commit- 
tee to secure the portraits of the deceased judges of this court and to 
make the necessary arrangements for hanging said portraits in the 
court-room of the court, and to wait upon the Board of Supervisors 
of this county and request that they place the court-room in a suita- 
ble condition for said portraits. This action of the bar was made an 
order of the Circuit Court. The committee appointed proceeded to 
the discharge of their duties and secured portraits of Judges Peter 
Johnston and John W. Johnston from Dr. George Ben Johnston, 
of Richmond, photographs of Judges Samuel V. Fulkerson and 
John A. Kelly from Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson and Joseph L. 
Kelly, of Bristol, and photographs of Judges Estill, Hopkins and 
Campbell from friends. 

The Board of Supervisors in answer to the request of this com- 
mittee appointed J. D. Williams, J. 0. Susong and J. C. Hayter, of 
the board, and James L. White, W. I. Newton and P. B. Hutton 
outside thereof, a committee to superintend the repairs to the court- 
house, and by the spring of the year 1903 the repairs were completed 
and the committee reported their proceedings to the judge of the 
Circuit Court. Their report was received and entered of record, f 
and thereupon the court appointed L. P. Summers, Preston W. 
Campbell, John W. ISTeal, W. H. Eobertson and John J. Stuart a 
committee to arrange a program for the exercises attending the pre- 
sentation of the portraits of the deceased judges to the county of 
Washington. 

This committee arranged a program and reported their action to 
the court, which report was received and made a matter of record,* 



*.Law Order Book, Circuit Court, K, pajje 116. 
f Jjaw Order Book, Circuit Court, K, page 133, 



602 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

The presentation exercises were held on the 11th day of May, 
1903, and the following program was rendered on that occasion: 

Chairman, Judge John P. Sheffey. 

Secretary, John M. Kreger. 

Portrait of Judge Peter Johnston. 

Speech of presentation by Captain J. L. Whit' 

Portrait of Judge Benj. Estill. 

Speech of presentation by L. P. Summers, Esquire. 

Portrait of Judge G. W. Hopkins. 

Speech of presentation by Daniel Trigg, Esquire. 

Portrait of Judge S. V. Fulkorson. 

Speech of presentation hy Judge E. M. Page. 

Portrait of Judge John A. Campbell. 

Speech of presentation by William E. Burns, Esquire. 

Portrait of Judge John W. Johnston. 

Speech of presentation by D. F. Bailey, Esquire. 

Portrait of Judge John A. Kelly. 

Speech of presentation by Judge John A. Buchanan. 

Manuscript remarks of Hon. Patrick Hagan read by John J. 
Stuart, Esquire. 

Speech of acceptance on behalf of the Supervisors of Washington 
county. Judge F. B. Hutton. 

United States Circuit and District Courts. 

In the year 18 — , the Congress of the United States created a 
district in Western Virginia, to which was given the name of the 
Western District of Virginia, and soon thereafter the court of said 
district was organized. For many years this court was held at 
Wytheville, but it was subsequently removed to Abingdon. This 
district at the present time is composed of the following counties: 
Alleghany, Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Augusta, Bath, Bed- 
ford, Bland, Botetourt, Buchanan, Buckingham, Campbell, Carroll, 
Charlotte, Clarke, Craig, Cumberland, Dickenson, Floyd, Fluvanna, 
Franklin, Frederick, Giles, Grayson, Greene, Halifax, Henry, High- 
land, I^ee, Madison, Montgomery, Nelson, Page, Patrick, Pulaski, 
Pittsylvania, Eappahannock, Boanoke, Rockbridge, Eockingham, 
Eussell, Scott, Shenandoah. Siiiytlu Tazewell, Warren, Washington, 
Wise and Wythe. 

Courts are held at five points in the district, semi-annually, to- 
Avit: Abingdon, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg and Danville, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. G03 

The jurisdiction of this court is confined to matters arising under 
the Constitution and laws of the United States. 

This court, from the time of its first meeting in Abingdon until 
the year 1891. held its sessions on the second floor of the county 
courthouse of this county. 

Some time previous to the year 1884, through the efforts of Col- 
loiiel Abram Fulkerson and General William Mahone, the Con- 
gress of the United States appropriated money sufficient to erect 
a handsome courthouse in Abingdon for the accommodation of the 
United States courts, which courthouse was completed in the year 
1891, at an expense to the United States of $85,000, including the 
furnishing of the same, and was occupied the same year. 

The judges of this co\irt, so far as I have been able to ascertain, 
have been: 

18 — , Judge Caldwell, of Wheeling. 

1839-1846, Isaac S. Pennypacker, of Harrisonburg. 

1846-18,71, John W. Brockenbrough, of Lexington. 

1871-1883, Alexand'er Eives, of Albemarle, 

1883-1900, John Paul, of Harrisonburg. 

1900 , Henry Clay McDowell, of Big Stone Gap. 

The clerks of this court have been as follows : 

1839 , Thomas L. Moore. 

1839-1846, E. W. Moore. 

1846-18—, Erasmus Stribling. 

1861 , Joseph W. Caldwell. 

1871-1874, E. S. Watson. 

1874-1884, Benjamin Gildersleeve. 

1884 , Isaac Chapman Fowler. 

The attorneys representing the United States in this court since 
1871 are as follows: 

1871 , Kobert W. Hughes. 

1871-1882, Warren S. Lurty. 

1882-188."), Daniel Sheffcy Lewis. 

1885-1889, Henry C. Allen. 

1889-1893, William E. Craig. 

1893-1897, A. J. Montague. 

1897-1901, T. M. Alderson. 

1901-1905, Thomas Lee Moore. 

The marshals of this court since 1855 have been as follows: 



604 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

1855 , Jefferson T. Martin. 

1871-1878, Algernon S. Gray. 

1878-1882, John P. Lewis. 

1882-1886, John G. Watts. 

1886-1887, Samnel L. Graham. 

1887-1890, James E. Jordan. 

1890-1893, John G. Watts. 

1893-1898, George W. Levi. 

1898-190-, S. Brown Allen. 

In addition to the officers above named, several of the citizens of 
this county and district, to-wit: F. B. Hutton, David F. Bailey, 
John J. Stuart and John C. Blair, have discharged the duties of 
assistant district attorney in this court with distinguished ability. 

PEESBYTEEIANISM IN" WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

The first settlers of Washington county were principally Presby- 
terian in belief and of Scotch-Irish descent, and as early as the 
year 1772 the Eev. John Craig and the Eev. James Campbell, Pres- 
byterian ministers, had visited and preached to the settlers u|X)n the 
frontiers (then Southwest Virginia). 

It may be thought strange that men situated as were the first set- 
tlers of this section would have need or would wish to be instructed 
in religious matters, as their lives were a constant effort to either kill 
their adversaries, the Indians, or to prevent the Indians from 
slaughtering themselves and families ; but man is a religious being 
and cannot divest himself of his religious nature. Herodotus, the 
ancient traveler and the father of history, said that "cities with- 
out walls could be found and communities without pretence tO' arts, 
laws, or even morals, but no tribe or nation could be found without 
a religion." The idea of God is intuitive, inherent in the soul of 
man. And the first settlers of this section were not only susceptible 
to this idea, but as a rule they had Keen taught in their youth to 
honor and love their Creator in all their walks and under all cir- 
cumstances. 

Prior to the year 1772, two congregations had been organized 
in this county, the one at Sinking Spring, the other at Ebbing 
Spring, and by the summer of 1773 these congregations had grown 
until their memberfehip was one hundred and twenty-six persons, 
and these congregations extended a call to the Rev. Charles Cum- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. G05 

iiiings, who was then preaching at Brown's Meeting House, in 
AugTista county. 

This call was presented by Samuel Edmiston at a session of the 
Presbyfery held at Brown's Meeting House on June 2, 1773. ■ 

Mr. Cunimiugs accepted the call and remo'ved with his family to 
the neighborhood of the Sinlcing Spring church (Abingdon), 
purchased land and settled upon it. Mr. Cummings served the two 
congregations until the year 1780, when the Eev. Thomas Brown 
Craighead took charge of the Ebbing Spring congregation, while 
Mr. Cummings remained in charge of and served the Sinking 
Spring congregation faithfully and well until 1812, the date of his 
death. 

From the time Mr. Cummings commenced preaching at Sinking 
Spring up to about the year 1776, the men never went to church 
without being armed, and taking their families with them. On 
Sabbath mornings during this period, it was Mr. Cummings' cus- 
tom, for he was always a very neat man in his dress, to dress him- 
self, then put on his shot-pouch, shoulder his rifle, mount his dun 
stallion and ride off to church. There he met his gallant and intel- 
ligent congregation, each man with his rifle in his hand. When 
seated in the meeting house they presented altogether a most solemn 
and singular spectacle. Mr. Cummings' uniform habit, before enter- 
ing the house, was to take a short walk alone whilst the congregation 
were seating themselves ; he would then return, at the door hold a few 
words of conversation with some one of the elders of tlie church, 
then would walk gravely through the crowd, mount the steps of the 
pulpit, deposit his rifle in a corner near him, lay off his shot pouch 
and commence the solemn worship of the day. He would preach 
two sermons, having a short interval between them, and go home. 

The congi-egation was very large, and preaching was always well 
attended. On sacramental occasions, which were generally about 
twice a year, the table was spread in a grove near the church. He 
preached for many years, and until far advanced in life, to one of 
the largest, most respectable and most intelligent congregations ever 
assembled in Western Virginia.* 

In the year 1782, the elders of the Sinking Spring congregation 
were: Samuel Newell, Sr., George Finley, John Blackburn, John 
Davis, Andrew Willoughby, Sr., William Lowry and James Douglas. 



*Governor David Campbell's MSS. 



606 Southwest Virginia, 1746-17^6. 

Mr. Cummings was a very zealO'US Whig and did much to fire the 
patriotism of his congregation and the settlers upon the frontiers. 
He was the first named on tlie Committee of Safety for Fincastle 
county and to his pen has been generally attributed the resolutions 
adopted by the freeholders of Fincastle county on the 20th of Jan- 
uary, 1775. He was a member of Hanover Presbytery and assisted 
in the preparation of the petition for the abolition of the established 
church, which was presented to the General Assembly on the 24th 
of October, 177G, and after the organization of Washington county, 
in the year 1777, he was chairman of the Conunittee of Safety for 
this county during the Revolution, and never failed to serve his 
country in the cause of liberty when an opportunity afforded. 

An idea may be had of his influence and the dependence placed 
upon him by our leaders during the darkest days of the Ee volution 
from a letter addressed to him by Colonel Arthur Campbell in June, 
1778, upon his return from Richmond: 

"Yesterday I returned home, the Assembly having adjourned 
until the first Monday in October. The acts passed and a list of 
their titles I liere enclose, together with an address of Congress 
to the people of America, for you to publish agreeably to the resolve. 
I wish you could make it convenient to preach at the lower meeting 
house in this count}'^, if it was but a week day, as the contents of the 
address are of the most interesting nature, both as to the moral and 
political conduct of the good people of America. Providence is 
daily working out strange deliverances for us. The treaty with 
France is much more advantageous than the wisest men of this 
country expected. The Indians the other day were unexpectedly 
discomfited on Greenbrier. I think the overthrow was something 
similar to what happened in this country about two years ago. I 
must give you the intelligence at full length, as the most hardened 
mind must see and admire the divine goodness in such an interpo- 
sition." 

Mr. Cummings was succeeded by the Rev. Steplien Bovel, and an 
eye-witness of the place and character of the service at the Sinking 
Spring churcli in the year 1833 says: "The Presbyterians wor- 
shipped in a very old log building at 'the Grave- Yard' — weather- 
boarded outside and ceiled inside. To this plain, old-fashioned 
house would, literally, the gathering of the people be. From the 
hills and valleys the worshippers would pour in until an overflowing 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 607 

house would leave a multitude outside. Ladies and gentlemen, with 
their children, would walk there twice a day in summer^s heat and 
winter's cold, and listen to one or two discourses before returning to 
Abingdon ! They went there for a purpose, and that purpose was to 
worship God. The silence of death almost prevailed before preach- 
ing. Talking and jesting in the house of God had not then become 
a fashionable amusement. They were prayerful, solemn, thought- 
ful, serious, and never failed to enjoy the services of the sanctuary 
and of the minister. The same writer says : "Dr. Bovel was a minis- 
ter of the olden stamp. We have heard gray-headed members of the 
church speak of his teaching them 'the Assembly's Catechism,' when 
they were children. Venerable patriarch of the church! We saw 
him when far beyond his three score years and ten. With his white 
head, tremulous voice and faltering steps, he still moved amongst 
the former people of his charge. In extreme age — the activity and 
usefulness of his 3'oung manhood having passed by, and repose and 
comfort should have been his — he journeyed far away, and sought a 
home, and found his grave in a distant State."* 

In the year 1830 Mr. Bovel was succeed'ed by Rev. David R. Pres- 
ton, and shortly thereafter this congregation erected a new church 
building (now Temperance Hall), and worshipped in this building 
until the schism of 1837 divided the church; when one branch of 
the church erected a new building on the lot now occupied by the 
Presbyterian church at the corner of Main and Slaughter streets. 

From the year 1837 until 1865, two congregations of Presbyte- 
rians worsliipped in the town, one at the Temperance Hall and tlic 
other at the new church, and the feelings between the two con- 
gregations were such as to greatly endanger the existence of the 
church. 

The total membership of both churches in 1865 was one hundred 
and twelve members only. The two congregations were united in 
1865, through the efforts of the Revs. Thomas Brown and James 
McChain, and since that time tlie church has greatly prospered, 
the membership at the present time being three hundred and thirty. 

This church took its name from the Sinking Spring near the 
marble yard of James L. Brown, and this church is the parent of 
the Meadow View, Cold Spring, Green Spring, Walnut Grove, Maple 
Grove, Spring Creek, Bethel and the first Presbyterian church of 
Bristol, Tenn. 



*Rev. Lewis F. Cosby. 



608 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1186. 

The pastors serving this church during its history have been : 

17,74-1813, Rev. Charles Cummings. 

1812-1830, Eev. Stephen BoveL 

1830-1835, Rev. David R. Preston. 

1835 , Rev. William Preston, stated supply. 

1835-1842, Rev. Stephen Taylor. 

1842-1866, Rev. James McChain. 

1870-1883, Rev. E. H. Barnett, and in recent years Revs. P. D. 
Stephenson, T. A. Wharton and R. V. Lancaster. 

The ruling elders of this church, so far as I can ascertain, in addi- 
tion to those previously given, have been : James Vance, James 
Davis, Michael Shaver, Alexander White, J. W. C. Watson, Elias 
Ogden, Henry Parrot, Archimedes Davis, T. P. Clapp, John P. 
Preston, Philip Snapp, Jacob N". Campbell, R. C. Craig, Samuel A. 
Preston, D. C. Dunn, R. L. Francisco, Robert J. Preston, T. D. 
Davidson, B. Gildersleeve, John A. Buchanan, R. A. Preston, John 
A. Hagy, F. B. Hutton, W. B. Ingham, T. M. Clapp and B. R. 
Smith. 

Ehhing Spring. 

This was one of the first churches to be organized in Washing- 
ton county, and its first pastor was the Rev. Charles Cummings, who 
served the church until 1780, when he was succeeded by Rev. 
Thomas Brown Craighead. 

This church was named from the Ebbing Spring, the church 
building being on the hill a short distance north of the spring. This 
spring is now on the farm owned by David Stump, on the Middle 
Fork of Holston river, in the upper end of this county, and in its 
normal condition it is a beautiful stream flowing from among lime- 
stone rocks. Before the water begins to flow there is a gurgling 
sound, and then the stream gushes out with a rapid current, filling 
the channel. The ebb begins gradually, and in less than half an 
hour the spring is as limpid and quiet as before the disturbance.* 
This was the place of worship of General William Campbell and 
the families east as far as the head of Holston, and the niimber of 
the worshippers at this church was exceeded by that of the Sinking 
Spring only. 

In the year 1792, it was decided to remove the church building 
from the Ebbing Spring to the Old Glade Spring. With the re- 



•Thomas'L. Preston. 



WasJiington County, 1777-1870. 609 

moval of the church from Ebbing Spring the name was changed 
to Glade Spring. The new church was erected upon property given 
by Francis Kincannon and deeded, by the direction of Kincannon, 
by John Robinson on the 15th of February, 1814, to Robert Buch- 
anan, Joseph Snodgrass, David Beattie, John Porterfield, Thomas 
Edmiston, William Beattie, James Scott, Samuel Edmiston, Leon- 
ard Hutton and William Eakin, members of the Presbyterian con- 
gregation of Glade Spring. The families constituting this congre- 
gation in the early days were among the most patriotic citizens to 
be foimd anywhere within the colonies; they were respectable and 
progressive, and their descendants at this time practice the same 
ideas that rendered their ancestors distinguished. The pastors 
serving the Ebbing Spring congregation have been : 

1774-1780— Rev. Charles Cummings. 

1780-1790— Rev. Thomas Brown Craighead. 

1790-1816— Rev. Edward Crawford. 

1816-1831— Rev. Alexander McEwen. 

1835 —Rev. Philip Wood. 

1843-1844— Rev. Robert C. Graham,. 

1844-1848— Rev. A. G. Taylor. 

1848 —Rev. Robert Glenn. 

1848-1852— Rev. Levi R. Morrison. 
. 1852-1856— Rev. D. F. Palmer. 

1856-1859— Rev. Henry Smith. 

1859-1863— Rev. J. J. McMahon. 

1863-1866— Rev. R. L. McMurrin, 
and since 1866, the Revs. Henry M. White, J. 0. Sullivan, Frank 
McCutchen, P. H. Guinn, and J. R. Herndon. 

The ruling elders of this church, so far as I have been able to 
ascertain, have been: Mitchell Robinson, David Beattie, John 
Eakin, Peter Clark, John S. Clark, Arthur Hutton, John Robinson, 
Philip B. Snapp, J. C. Porterfield, Isaac M. Benham, W. B. Dick- 
enson, James A. Buchanan, A. D. Hutton, A. H. Byars, George A. 
C. Beattie, M. W. Robinson, E. B. Clark, T. M. Porterfield, A. M. 
Byars, and J. D. Kent. 

This church has experienced a very rapid growth in recent years, 
and at the present time five churches and chapels are within tlie 
bounds of the Glade Spring church, viz. : Old Glade Spring clmrch. 



610 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

Glade Spring clmrcli, Seven Springs, Ebbing Spring Chapel, and 
the membership of the church is considerable. 

The location of the church erected in 1792 was near a fine 
spring and there was a long glade free from timber looking south- 
east from the location of the church, and it was from this circum- 
stance that the church took tlie name of Glade Spring in the year 
1792. 

When the building of Ejnory and Henry College was proposed, a 
meeting was held for the purpose of soliciting subscriptions at th'e 
Old Glade Spring church and the members of this congregation con- 
tributed the greater portion of a $5,000 subscription to the enter- 
prise, and Colonel William Byars, Alexander Eobinson, Madison 
Beattie, Absalom Beattie, W. B. Edmondson, W, C. Edmondson 
and J. M. B^'ars, active members of this church, have given their 
influence, money and labor to the upbuilding of Emory and Henry 
College since the inception of the enterprise. 

There is not a community in Washington county that excels that 
of Glade Spring in intelligence, patriotism and M^orth, and this fact 
is in great part due to the influence of this church. 

RocTv Spring Church. 

The Rock Spring church, by far the oldest church organization 
in that section of the county, was organized just after the Eevolu- 
tion, in the year 1784. 

The land upon which this church stands was deeded to the con- 
gregation, March 15th, 1820; fifty-five poles by Robert Edmond- 
son, twenty poles by Matthew Brown. 

No sessional records appear to have been kept until 1843, but 
the membership was large and somewhat scattered. In 1880, sixty- 
three of its members were organized into a separate church, known 
as Bethel, near Osceola. 

The total membership of Rock Spring church from 1843 to 1902 
is estimated at something over 500. Its present membership is 
over seventy. i 

Many of the signei-s of the original call to Rev. Charles Cum- ' 
mings lived within the bounds of Rock Spring church, and some 
of their descendants still occupy the old homesteads of their an- 
cestors. 

The church has occupied three separate buildings; the second 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 611 

was removed in 1884, and the present large and beautiful building 
erected near the old site. 

''J'he names of those who ministered to the people of Eock Spring 
church prior to 1843 are (so far as can be learned) Crawford, Bovel, 
Glenn and McEwen, of the Presbyterian church, and Harper, Mc- 
Laws, Scott, Patrick and Thompson, of the Eeformed Presbyterian 
church. About 1825, McEwen, who was then stated supply, and 
who appears to have been an able and popular minister, was de- 
posed from the ministry on the cliarge of immorality. The contro- 
versy over his trial was bitter and protracted, and checked the 
grow til of the church for several years. 

In the great controversy of 1837 over church representation, out 
of which grew the Old and New Schools, Rock Spring sided witli 
the former. 

Down to 1843 the church had no regular pastor. In that year 
the Eev. E. C. Graham was called and installed. 

At that time Samuel Moore,, Andrew Edmondson, and Eobert 
E. Lowry were elders. Their first meeting under the new pastor 
was on December 10, 1843. From that meeting records of the pro- 
ceedings of the session were kept; the membership at that time was 
ninety. 

Mr. Graham's pastorate appears to have ended in 1847. It re- 
sulted in a largely increased membership. From 1847 to 1866 the 
church had no pastor. The stated supplies during that time were 
Hodge, Stickley, Eeece, Wilson and Hogshead. The last, in the 
year 1866, was installed pastor, and continued as such until the 
year 1871. 

He was succeeded by Eev. J. C. Carson, as stated supply, who 
continued in charge until the autumn of 1875, when Eev. J. 0. 
Sullivan became pastor. His pastorate ceased in the year 1881, 
when he became j)resi(Tcnt of Stonewall Jackson Institute. 

The present cliurch building, one of the most commodious in the 
Presbytery, was erected in the year 1884, at a cost of about $3,000. 

The next pastor was the Eev. Frank McCutchen. He remained 
until 1893, when he accepted a call to Eogersville, Tenn. Eev. J. 
B. Hutton, Eev. S. E. Preston and the Eev. Mr. Visor were stated 
supplies until October, 1896, when Eev. J. B. Morton became pastor. 
He resigned in 1901 because of disafEection in the congregation. 



613 Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 

The present pastor (not yet installed) is Eev. Allen Jones, an abk 
and most energetic man. 

Maple Grove Church. 

The first Presbyterian preacher to conduct regular services in 
this commmiity was the Eev. Stephen Bovel, and, as a result of his 
efforts, a log-house was built upon the location of the present 
church in 1831. A partial organization of the church was ef- 
fected about the same time, but all records pertaining thereto have 
been lost, and the first regular session of this church of which we 
have any record, was organized in the year 1836, with the following 
elders present: John Gray, John Davis, John Anderson, Wallace 
IMaxwell, Peter S. Hanby and A, C. Maxwell. 

The first regularly installed pastor of this church was the Eev. 
John H. Wallace. 

In tlie year 1874, the log church erected, in 1831 was torn down, 
and a handsome country church erected in its place. The church 
has been served by the following pastors, so far as I can ascertain: 
Eevs. Stephen Bovel, James McChain, John H. Wallace, Henry 
Eose, J. P. Briscoe, John L. Allison, W. T. Mobray, J. B. Morton, 
G. W. Henderlite and E. B. Hudson. 

Spring CreeTc Church. 

This church was organized in the year 1852, with John F. Pres- 
ton and Archimedes Davis as ruling elders, and the following mem- 
bers: Archimedes Davis, John F. Preston, Mrs. Fancy Preston, 
Mrs. Margaret L. Fulkerson, Mrs. Mary Bradley, Misses Mar- 
garet J. Willoughby, Caroline Willoughby, Elizabeth Eush, Mary 
J. Legard, Andrew Willoughby, Jeremiah Eush, Sr. and James 
Eush. 

Soon after the organization of the church, Andrew Willoughby 
was installed an elder, and within recent years Henry B. Eoberts, 
J. G. E. Davis and others have served in the same capacity. 

The land upon which this church stands was given by John F. 
Preston. A very commodious frame building was erected thereon 
in the year 1852 and remained until 1886, when the old building 
was torn do'wn and a handsome frame building erected in its stead. 

The pastors that have served this church have been the same that 
served the Maple Grove church. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 613 

Upon this church property stood an old log-house in which the 
writer attended the public schools, and in the church building he 
was taught the Shorter Catechism by H. B. Eoberts and a faithful 
corps of noble women. 

Walnut Gi'ove Church. 

This church was organized at an early day and has been of great 
usefulness; but, I am sorry to say that, notwithstanding very per- 
sistent efforts, I have been unable to obtain any information in re- 
gard to its liistory. 

Green Spring Church. 

This church was established in the year 1794, and the first build- 
ing was erected upon a tract of land conveyed to the members of 
the Green Spring congregation and their successors, they calling a 
regular Presbyterian minister of the gospel, adhering to the West- 
minster Confession of Faith and the doctrine and discipline therein 
contained, with the Larger and Shorter Catechism, James Mont- 
gomery. 

This cliurch is situated in the strongest Presbyterian community 
in Washington county, possil)ly in Southwest Virginia, and luis had 
a very useful career : but I must express my regret at being unable 
to obtain any information in regard thereto. 

All that has been said in regard to the Glade Spring community 
will apply to this, the peer of the Glade Spring community. 

The Kings, McConnells, Berrys, McChesneys, Coxes, Kellers, 
jNfcCauleys, Grays, Thomases, Lowrys, Parks, Avens, Mimmicks 
and Campbells constitute a large part of this congregation. 

METHODISM IN WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

Methodism made its appearance in Washington county, Vir- 
ginia, by emigration, somewhere between 1770 and 1775. The 
first circuit, in what is now Holston Conference, appeared in the 
minutes of 1783 entitled "Ilolston Circuit," with sixty members, 
and Joreniiah Lambert was appointed in charge of it. This cir- 
cuit embraced tiie scattered Methodists in Southwestern Virginia 
and upper East Tennessee. In 1784, Lambert reported seventy-six 
members, a gain of sixteen. 

Bishop Asbury held the first conference west of the Alleghanies, 
at Stephen Key wood's, Washington county, Virginia, May, 1788, 



614 Southwest Virginia, 17 46-17 SO. 

Keywood lived about midway between Saltville and what is now 
Glade Spring depot. He lived in a two-stoTy log-house with a mas- 
sive stone chimney at one end. The conference met in an upper 
room without fire, and sat three days. Eeligious exercises were 
kept up daily, with fine results. John Tunnell, Thomas Ware and 
others had preaching at Keywood 's every day for a week before 
the session of the conference began, and on Sunday before the con- 
ference John Tunnell preached in the morning. Under this ser- 
mon Madam Elizabeth Eussell, wife of General William Eussell, 
of Eevolutionary fame, and sister to Patrick Henry, was convinced 
that she was the veriest sinner on 'earth, although up to that period, 
as a member of the Episcopal church, she had been exemplary in 
life and thought she was a child of God. She invited the preach- 
ers home with her to pray for and instruct her. They complied, 
and in the afternoon she emerged from darkness into light, prais- 
ing God with a loud voice. This good — yea, great — woman became a 
flame of Christian zeal, and to the day of her death, which occurred 
in 1825, she served God and her generation with a zeal not sur- 
passed in ancient or modern times. Mrs. Eussell's first husband 
was General William Campbell, of King's moimtain celebrity. Her 
daughter, ]\Iiss Sarah B. Campbell, married Genergli Francis Pres- 
ton. Among the children of General Preston may be mentioned 
the Hons. William C. Preston and John S. Preston, of South Caro- 
lina, Thomas L. Preston, and Mrs. John B. Floyd, the last a life- 
long Methodist. 

Up to 1812, Washing-ton county was generally included in Hol- 
ston Circuit; but in that year Abingdon Circuit appears in the 
minutes. This circuit embraced Washington county and some ad- 
jacent territory in Virginia and Tennessee. Baker Wrather was 
the first appointee to Abingdon Circuit. This circuit was a part 
of Tennessee Conference until 1824, when Holston Conference was 
organized. Abingdon station was established in 1826, with the 
Eev. George Atkins as its first pastor. 

At what date the first Methodist church in Abingdon was built 
I am unable to state. In 1849, the old Abingdon church was torn 
down and supplanted by a neat brick chapel where the old Metho- 
dist graveyard is. This chapel afterwards gave place to the pres- 
ent church on Main street. The Findlays, Litchfields, Mitchells, 
Floyds, Campbells, Hoofnagles, Honakers, Hamiltons and Barrs 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 615 

have been among the most prominent Methodist families of Abing- 
don. 

John Baker, four miles weM of Abingdon, was a wealthy Metho- 
dist, and was for many years a liberal supporter of the church. 
John W. Price, near Grladc Spring, was a wealthy farmer and an 
active church worker, often exhorting and holding protracted meet- 
ings, resulting in great revivals in his community. 

Lebanon camp-ground, some six miles east of Abingdon, was 
established at an early day, and for a number of years was one of 
the most popular camp-gTounds in the connection. Methodists 
from Abingdon and other parts of the county camped there, and 
many of the first preachers of the connection preached from its pul- 
pit. 

In 1835, Holston Conference projected a scheme for an agricul- 
tural college. The Eev. Creed Fulton, agent, and also member 
of the committee to locate the school, raised a subscription and 
called the committea together. The present site of Emory and 
Henry College was chosen, and the erection of buildings was begun 
at once. In 1838, the school was inaug-urated under the presidency 
of Charles Collins, of Maine, a graduate of the Middleton (Conn.) 
Wesleyan University. He was a well-rounded man, and under his 
wise administration the college prospered; but the school reached 
its zenith afterwards under the administration of President E. E. 
Wiley. 

Martha Washington College was projected in 1858. The confer- 
ence accepted from the Odd-Fellows a site and unfinished build- 
ings in the northern suburb of Abingdon, but abandoned the site 
afterwards, and bought the Preston property, the present site. 
This college has had a vei-y useful career. 

Some years afterwards the Methodists of Bristol built and es- 
tablished Sullins College there, with Dr. David SuUins as presi- 
dent. This school has been a successful competitor of Martha 
Washington College in the cause of female education. 

Methodism has always been strong in Washington county, of an 
evangelical type, and a powerful factor in educating and refaiiug 
the people and creating a good quality of citizenship. Jx)ng will 
the memory of such people as Father Wilkenson, Father Haskew, 
Dr. George Barr, "Aunt Bettie Haskew," "Aunt Kittie" Findlay, 



616 Southtuest Virginia, 1746-1736. 

and others like them, linger among oiir healthful hills as a sweet 
perfume. 

I sliould have mentioned particularly the Methodist Protestant 
church. This denomination was organized in 1830. It was at 
first made up of members and preachers who formerly represented 
the Annual and General Conferences, and, being opposed to an 
episcopal form of government, seceded from the M. E. Church, 
and set up a church more democratic in polity. The Eev. Mr. 
Cosby and Dr. George E. Barr were the principal pioneers of tliis 
church in Abingdon. A nice brick church was built, and regular 
preaching kept up for many years. Dr. Barr was many years its 
pastor, and a revered and venerable name. The church had some 
influence at other points in this county, but made little headway 
against its older and more thorouglily established rival.* 

The members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in about the 
year 1845, disagreed upon the question of slavery, and divided 
their church property, and since that time ,there have been two 
branches of the same church in this county, to- wit: The Methodist 
Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church has experienced a very rapid 
growth in Washington county since 1865, and to-day has thirteen 
churches and a large number of communicants in this county, while 
the Methodist Episcopal Church South has churches and com- 
municants in nearly every community in the county. 

ABINGDON, VIEGINJ A— ITS HISTOEY. 

The present location of Abingdon was immediately upon the 
Indian trail from the south and the Indian trail from the north- 
west, which, passing through Cumberland Gap, crossed the south- 
ern trail at about the present location of Hurt's store, in the town 
of Abingdon, in the direction of North Carolina. 

When Dr. Thomas' Walker and his company of explorers visited 
Southwestern Virginia in the years 1749-1750, they followed this 
Indian trail, and on July 14, 1752, King George II. of England 
granted to Dr. Thomas Walker a large body of land surrounding 
and including the site of the town of Abingdon and supposed to 
contain 6,780 acres. 



*Rev. R. N. Price. 



. Washington County, 1777-1870. 



617 



This is the first record that we have of the early exploration of 
the lands upon which the town of Abingdon has been built. 

Dr. Walker made no immediate effort to settle the lands secured 
by his grant, and the next mention that we have of this locality 
was in the year 1760, in which year Daniel Boone and Nathaniel 
Gist left the home of Boone, in North Carolina, and, crossing the 
Holston mountains, encamped in what is now known as Taylor's 
Valley, from which point they passed down the Holston river to 
near Glenn's Mill, and thence to the present location of Abingdon, 
where they encamped on the second night, near where Black's 




Abingdon, Virginia, -1835. 



Fort was afterwards built at a spring. Boone and Gist were upon 
a hunting expedition at the time and were accompanied by their 
dogs. Soon after nightfall, the hunters were greatly disturbed by 
the appearance of a large number of wolves. Their dogs were as- 
sailed with such fury that Boone and Gist with great diificulty 
succeeded in repelling the attack of tlie wolves and preserving their 
lives, several of their best dogs being killed. From this circum- 
stance the present location of Abingdon received its first name, 
"Wolf Hills." The wolves had their home in the cave that under- 
lies the town of Abingdon, the entrance to which is upon the lot 
now occupied as a residence by Captain James L. White. 

The creek that passes through the eastern and southern portions 
of the town about this time received the name of Castfe's Creek, 



618 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786: 




Abingdon, Virginia, 1902. Looking East from Fruit Hill. 




Abingdon, Virginia, 1902. Looking South from Fruit Hill. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 619 

which name, about fifteen years afterwards, was changed to Eigh- 
teen Mile Creek, and the creek west of Abingdon was given the 
name of Wolf Hill Creek, which names are retained until this time. 

Some time between the years 1765 and 1770, James Douglas, 
Andrew Colvill, George Blackburn, Joseph Black, Samuel Briggs, 
James Piper and several other persons settled upon lands sur- 
roimding and including the present location of Abingdon, under 
purchases from Dr. Thomas Walker, which lands were afterwards 
conveyed to the settlers in the year 1774. 

By tliis time, 1774, tlie immediate vicinity of tlio present loca- 
tion of Al)ingdon was settled l\y large numbers of people, and dur- 
ing this year a church was built near the entrance gate of the pres- 
ent cemetery, AA-est of the town of Abingdon, under the direction 
of the Eev. Charles Cunnriings anrl under the auspices of the Pres- 
byterian Church. 

The early settlers of this section of Virginia at this early date 
recognized the importance of this locality, and as the natural in- 
stinct of the Indian had made this the passing point of two great 
Indian trails, so the same instinct of the white man caused him to 
recognize this as a central location for his operations. 

Captain Josepli Black, who settled on Eighteen Mile Creek 
nearly south of the present residence of Colonel Arthur Cummings, 
with the assistance of his neighbors, erected a small fort near his 
residence for the protection of the neighborhood froin attacks 
by the Indians, which fort was called "Black's Fort," and this fort 
was used until the summer of 1 776. 

In the spring of this year, 1776, the Cherokee Indians, after 
twelve years of comparative peace and friendliness, decided to wage 
a war against the whites, and to exterminate or drive them from 
the waters of the Holston and Clinch rivers; and in the month of 
July news came to the settlement, which extended down as far as 
Eaton's Fort., seven miles east of Long Island of Holston, that 
Dragging Canoe, a noted Indian chief, at the head of seven hun- 
dred Indian warriors, was marching upon the settlements, which 
news created great consternation, and every settler, with but few 
exceptions, gathered his family and traveled with all speed for the 
older settlements. 

There was but one public highway passing through this sec- 



620 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

tion at that time, which was known as the Great road and passed 
directly by Black^s Fort. 

By the 20th of July, 1776, fnlly four hundred men, women and 
children, had assembled at Black's Fort, and, at the suggestion of 
their leaders, determined to build a substantial fort and contest 
the further progress of the Indian invasion. 

While the building of this fort was in progress, the battle of 
Long Island Flats was fought and resulted in an overwhelming 
victory for the settlers. The news of this battle reached Black's 
Fort on the following day. 

Upon the receipt of this good news, the Eev. Charles Cummings 
had all work upon the fort suspended, assembled the multitude, 
and, kneeling in prayer, thanked God for the deliverance of the 
people. 

The work upon the fort was continued until completed and, when 
completed, it was one of the best forts upon the frontiers. 

During the week following the battle of Long Island Flats the 
settlers at Black's Fort were greatly annoyed by small bands of In- 
dians traveling through the settlements, killing the settlers indis- 
criminately, burning their homes and driving off their property. 

Three partibs of Indians came within the vicinity of Black's 
Fort. One party scalped Arthur Blackburn and left him for dead, 
another succeeded in killing and scalping Jacob Mongle, and a 
third party assailed the Eev. Charles Cummings, his negro ser- 
vant. Job, William Creswell and James Piper, and succeeded in 
killing William Creswell and crippling James Piper by shooting 
off one of his fingers. 

After the battle at Long Island Flats, the settlers were greatly 
encouraged, and, at th'e same time, felt very much outraged at the 
depredations of their Indian neighbors, and a portion of the set- 
tlers at Black's Fort, with the assistance of a few men from Bryan's 
Fort, succeeded in killing and scalping eleven out of a party of In- 
dians that visited the home of James Montgomery, near the South 
Fork of Holstoa river, about eight miles south of Abingdon. The 
scalps of the eleven Indians were brought to Black's Fort and 
tied to the end of the longest pole tliat could be foimd in the vi- 
cinity, and this pole was planted at the gate of the fort as a warn- 
ing, we suppose, to future invaders that they would meet a like 
fate. 



Washington County,, 1777-1870. 63l 

The county of Wasliington was established by an Act of the 
Assembly of Virginia in the fall of the year 1776, and by the , 
provisions of that Act Black's Fort was designated as the first place 
of meeting of the County Court of the new cojinty. The time of 
the meeting was fixed as January 28, 1777. 

Tradition says there was a great contest between the citizens of 
this county as to the location of the county seat, a portion of the 
citizens advocating the present location of the Presbyterian church 
at Green Spring as the proper location for the county seat. 

But several important inducements decided the contest in favor 
of Black's Fort ; to-wit : first, the fact that Black's Fort was directly 
upon the line of the Great road passing through this section, and, 
secondly, because Dr. Thomas Walker, Joseph Black and Samuel 
Briggs agreed to give to the county of Washington one hundred and 
twenty acres of land for the purpose of locating the town and 
assisting in discharging the cost of the erection of the necessary 
public buildings, and, in addition. Dr. Walker agreed to deed to 
the trustees of tlie town of Abingdon, for a nominal consideration, 
four hundred and eighty-four acres of land adjoining the on.e hun- 
dred and twenty above spoken of. 

It cannot be doubted that the selection was a wise one, especially 
in view of the mutilation of the territory of Washington county 
as originally formed, by the formation of new counties by the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Virginia, and the encroachments upon Virginia 
territory by the State of Tennessee. The county seat was as nearly 
centrally located as possible. 

The four hundred and eighty-four acre tract of land which Dr. 
AValker agreed to sell to the trustees of the town of Abingdon for 
a nominal consideration was conveyed to said trustees by Daniel 
Smith, attorney in fact for Dr. Walker, on October 7, 1781. 

The power of attorney from Dr. Walker constituting Daniel 
Smith his attorney in fact to convey said lands was executed Sep- 
tember 9, 1777 and was witnessed by Thomas Jefferson, Eeuben 
Lindsay and George Dives. 

Shortly after the organization of the County Coui-t of Washing- 
ton county, Virginia, to-wit: on April 29, 1777, the County Court 
entered an order appointing 



622 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

Arthur Campbell, William Campbell, 

Daniel Smith, Joseph Martin, 

William Edmiston, John Coulter, 

Eobert Craig, 

trustees to dispose of the lands given to the county by Walker, Black 
and Briggs. 

It will be observed that the present location of Abingdon, at the 
time in question, was without a name, and, as far as I can ascertain, 
it did not receive the name of Abingdon until the summer of this 
year. 

The one hundred and twenty acres of land given to the county by 
Walker, Black and Briggs were surveyed by Captain Robert Doach, 
and, immediately after the appointment of the trustees above 
named, they directed John Coulter tO' survey and lay out the main 
street of the town of Abingdon, which was accordingly done. 

The County Court, on the 27th day of August, 1,777, directed 
James Dysart, the sheriff of Washington county, to employ some 
person or persons, upon the best terms he could, to remove to some 
convenient place, where the town was to stand, the logs and other 
timber which had been placed at Mr. Black's for the purpose of 
building a magazine, toi be used in building a courthouse. The 
sheriff, pursuant to this order, selected the present location of the 
yard of Mrs. James W. Preston as a convenient place for the same, 
and let the contract for the building to Samuel Evans. 

The County Court, at the same time, directed th'e sheriff of the 
county to build a prison fourteen feet square, with square timbers, 
twelve inches each way, and with a good shingle roof, and in lieu 
of a stone wall to line the side walls and also the under floor with 
two-inch plank, and to put in each plank nine iron spikes six inches 
long; and the sheriff, pursuant to directions, let the contract for 
the building of the prison to Abraham Goodpasture. 

At the time of the building of the courthouse, the County Court 
of Washington county had erected what was known as stocks, just 
west of the courthouse and on Main street. 

These consisted of a platform some five or six feet above the 
ground, with a centrepiece about seven feet above the platform. 
To this were attached movable boards, one at the foot of the plat- 
fonii and another about four feet above the first. In these boards 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



623 



were holes, through which the head, hands and feet of the cul- 
prit were thrust."* 

It is said that one application of this mode of punishment made 
a lasting impression upon offenders. 

To George Martin was given the contract for making irons for 
criminals, and to Hugh Berry that of making nails to he used in 
the erection of the courthouse and prison. 

The courthouse and prison were not completed until the year 
1779, at which time the County Court directed David Carson and 
Joseph Black to lay off the prison bounds, and on the 17th day of 
June, 1779, David Carson and Joseph Black, after laying off the 
prison bounds, made the following report: 

Pursuant to an order of court, we the subscribers have laid off the 
Prison Bounds, as in the annexed Piatt. 




Witness our hands this 17th June, 1779. 

DAVID CAKSON, 
JOSEPH BLACK. 

Beginning at the N. W. corner of the gaol at a stump S. 35° E. 
40 poles, crossing the road at 3 forked wliite oak saplings ; thence JST. 
62° E. 35 poles crossing a creek at the old fording at a large white 



*Thomas L. Preston. 



624 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

oak tree by the north side of the road; thence N. 32° W. 30 poles 
crossing said creek N. E. of head of a spring at a white oak stake 
and an old black stump ; and thence to a white oak sapling on a N. E. 
stony bank on Mr. Willoughby's lot; thence S. 62° W. 36 poles to 
the north end of the prison house at the beginning. 

DAVID CARSON. 

From this report it will be observed that numbers of white oak 
saplings were standing within the present limits of the town of 
Abingdon as late as the summer of 1779. 

It is hardly necessary to be said at this point that the prison 
bounds thus laid out were used, until the year 1850, as a place of 
confinement for delinquent debtors, and it would be a matter of 
great surprise, could the present generation read the names of the 
prominent citizens of this county who were confined within tbosc 
prison bounds because of the non-payment of their debts. 

As soon as the Main street of the town was located and tbe lots 
on the north and south sides of said street surveyed, the trustees of 
the town proceeded to sell and dispose of said lots ; but, finding some 
difficulty in disposing of said lots by reason of some uncertainty 
in their title to said property, eleven members of the County Court 
in the fall of the year 1777 addressed the following petition to the 
General Assembly of Virginia : 

To the Honorable, the Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of 
Delegates : 

The petition of the court of Washington county. 

Whereas a certain tract or parcel of land is given by the Honor- 
able Thomas Walker, Joseph Black and Samuel Briggs, and also 
another tract of land is agreed to be sold at a certain rate by tlio 
said Walker for the benefit of the aforesaid county to erect their 
public buildings on, and as this court has already fixed upon a 
place on said land for their courthouse and prison, and has also laid 
off a part thereof for a town, and whereas it is apprehended that it 
Avould much conduce to the speedy settling of the aforesaid town 
and advance the value of the lots if an Act of Assembly should pass, 
enabling the said court or their trustees to receive titles from the 
above-named gentlemen for the land given and sold, and also to 
enable them to lay off, sell and make conveyances to the purchasers, 



Washington Covnty, 1777-1870. 635 

land grant such privileges and immunities to the settlers on such 
lots, as to citizens in like cases have been granted, in the premises 
we submit to the consideration of your honorable House, and pray 
you to grant us such redress as you judge just and right, and your 
petitioners, as in duty bound, shall pray, etc. : 

George Blackburn, Andrew Colvill, 

John Kinkhead, William Camj)bell, 

William Edmiston, John Snoddy, 

James Montgomery, Daniel Smith, 

John Campbell, Thomas Mastin, 

Arthur Campbell. 

This petition was referred to the proper committee on November 
8, 1777, but was not again heard of until the fall of the year 1778. 

Washington county's representatives in the Legislature at this 
time were William Cocke and Anthony Bledsoe, neither of whom 
had any particular interest in the welfare of the proposed town. 
But in tlie spring of the year 1778, Arthur Campbell and Anthony 
Bledsoe were elected to tJie Legislature of Virginia from Washing- 
ton county, and, as a result of the efforts of Arthur Campbell, the 
town was incorporated in December, 1778. 

For some reason which I cannot explain, the trustees appointed 
by the County Court of Washington county, Virginia, on April 39, 
1777, with but two exceptions, never acted in the capacity of trus- 
tees, William Edmiston and Eobert Craig being the exceptions, 
but on the Gth of June, 1777, William Edmiston, Eobert Craig, 
James Armstrong, Eobert Preston and Eobert Campbell, terming 
themselves trustees for the town of Abingdon, met at Christopher 
Acklin's, in said town, and proceeded to business and surveyed 
a part of said town, namely the inner lots; after which the board 
adjourned until the next day, the 7th of June, 17,77, on which day 
the trustees ordered an alley to be laid off, one pole wide, adjoining 
the lower end of the lots on the south side of Main street; and 
that a street be laid off, three poles wide, ten poles from said alley, 
and that the land between the alley and said street be laid off in 
half acre lots, and that the land on the south side of said street 
be laid off in acre lots, and that said street b'e known by the name 
of Water street; and to the alley between Water and Main streets 
was given the name of Troopers' alley. 



G26 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

Eobert Preston was directed to survey said lots and to deliver a 
draft of the same to Christopher Acklin, who was directed to sell 
said lots at public outcry at the following Jirne court, which lots 
were accordingly disposed of by Christopher Acklin at public 
auction. 

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the first settler 
within the bounds of Abingdon. Charles B. Coale makes the state- 
ment that the first house erected in the town was by Dr. Smith, 
who built his house about the year 1760, on the lot now occupied by 
Mrs. Henry S. Preston. 

The statement of Mr. Coale is evidently a mistake, as this por- 
tion of Virginia was not settled in the year 1760. 

There can be no' question that Christopher Acklin, as early as 
June, 1777, had a house built and was living upon the lot now occu- 
pied by the county courthouse. 

As previously stated, in the month of October, 1778, the town of 
Abingdon was established by Act of the Assembly, and Evan 
Shelby, William Campbell, Daniel Smith, William Edmiston, Eob- 
ert Craig and Andrew Willoughby were named as trustees for said 
town, and the title to the one hundred and twenty acres of land 
given by Dr. Walker and others was vested in fee simple in said 
trustees by said Act,* and said trustees or any three of them were 
empowered to make conveyances of such lots in said tovni as had 
been previously sold and of such as might be sold thereafter. 

Considerable power was conferred upon said Board of Trustees, 
as will be seen by an inspection of the Act establishing the town. 

The name given to the town was evidently suggested by Colonel 
Arthur Campbell, through whose influence the Act incorporating the 
town was passed. 

While the object in view in giving the name, Abingdon, to tlie 
town is not known, several statements in regard thereto have been 
made by different writers upon the subject, one statement being 
that the town was given the name of Abingdon as a compliment 
to Martha Washington, the wife of General Washington, it being 
the name of the parish in which she worshipped in girlhood f ; 

*No deed having passed between Walker, Briggs and Black and said 
trustees. 

fAbingdon was the name of the country seat of Mrs. Martha Custis be- 
fore her marriage to General Washington, and was but a few miles from 
Mt. Vernon. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 627 

another statement being that the town was named in honor of Lord 
Abingdon, a young English nobleman of Scotch descent, with whom 
William Campbell was well acquainted, Lord Abingdon being very 
much in symjjathy with the ideas of his Scotch kinsfolk living in 
America, in their contest with England. 

Daniel Boone, at this time, was known as the greatest explorer 
and hunter on the frontiers, and the name may have originated, 
with him. Abingdon, Pennsylvania, situated about twelve miles 
north of Philadelphia, was his first residence in America, and, for 
many years, was the home of many of his family. 

The lands deeded to the trustees of the town of Abingdon 
included four hundred and eighty-four acres in addition to the 
one hundred and twenty acres given by Dr. Walker and others and 
vested in said trustees by Act of the Assembly. These four himdred 
and eighty-four acres lay north and northeast of the town of 
Abingdon of tlie present day ; and while Main and Water streets 
were laid off previously to 1778, and lots on either side of said 
streets surveyed, the lands included within the four hundred and 
eighty-four acre survey were not surveyed until August, 1781, 
during which month Daniel Smith surveyed and divided said four 
hundred and eighty-four acres into nineteen tracts containing from 
thirteen to fifty-six acres to the lot, which tracts of land were 
denominated the outer lots of said town. 

"The lands on which the town is built were given to the county 
of Washington by Dr. Thomas Walker, of Albemarle connty, and 
by Samuel Briggs, who owned the tract adjoining to the east, and 
Joseph Black, who owned the one to the west of the town, I first 
saw the town Mil in 1782, and then there were on it a log court- 
house about twenty-five feet square, standing opposite Dunn's Hotel 
across the street — a small log jail on the lower corner of the present 
public lot; Christopher Acklin's Tavern on the southeast corner of 
the public square; John Yancey's Tavern, on the lot where Dunn's 
Hotel stands; and William Dryden's Tavern on the lot where Mr. 
3litcheirs dwelling stands, that formed the then town of Abingdon. 
In 1782, Yancey sold his house and lot to John Campbell, and 
shortly afterw^ards Dryden sold his to Dr. Alexander Smitli, the 
first husband of Mrs. Conn." 

Acklin and Smitli now entertained all who called on them, Acklin 
those who were fond of their brandy. Smith the more temperate. 



628 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Two Irishmen, named Dan and Manasas Friel, at this time 
ajipeared with a cargo of merchandise and opened their goods in a 
room in JoJm Camphell's dwelling house. Tliey soon built a store- 
Jiouse across the street and, for teai or tw'elve years from 1783, 
sold goods and made a handsome propeity. They then removed to 
Wythe, and Manasas to a valuable farm near Fort Chiswell. About 
the time they had located themselves in their new st<!)rehouse, Wil- 
liam Bagnell and Mrs. Bagnell came to the town and built a large 
cabin on the lot east of Dunn's HoM. This 00^5)16 were from 
Baltimore and merit special notice. 

William BagTiell was a dwarf about four feet, nine inches, high, 
and diminutive in form. Mrs^ Bagnell was just the opposite in 
•every respect^ — a large, athletic woman of good figure, rather hand- 
some than otherwise, and intelligent. They appeared tO' be about 
thirty years of age. Bagnell's Tavern soon attracted attention and 
commanded company. Mrs. Bagnell had been evidently well 
accustomed to the noise and confusion of a drinking establishment, 
and acted in her cabin with good authority. She was often visited 
by an old man and two sons from the foot of Iron mountain, who 
never left without having a drunken frolic. On one occasion they 
continued their bacchanalian riot until late in the night and until 
Mrs. Bagnell was fairly worn down with it and refused to let them 
have any more whiskey. They begged and pled and threatened, but 
her ladyship was firm to her purpose and would not yield. They 
then commenced beating her and running her around the cabin, 
they pursuing and she retreating and defending herself. At length 
she was able to escape up a ladder to the loft, and there she shonted 
murder with all her strength. The town was roused and all came 
to her relief and toi hear what was the matter. The three bacchana- 
lians retreated into the street and bade defiance, and Mrs. Bagnell 
complained of being much hurt. The sheriff made his appearance 
and was ordered by a justice to arrest the men. He summoned a 
posse, and for a short time there was a general engagement; at 
length the men were taken and committed to jail. In the melee 
several persons were seriously injured, but the prosecutions failed. 

Henry Dickenson came to town to live and built on the corner lot 
on which William King's old brick house stands. Near the same 
time Captain William Y. Conn arrived from Alexandria with a 
cargo of merchandise, built a storehouse across the street from 



Washington County. 1777-1870. 629 

Dunn's Hotel and opened goods. Alexander Smitb died and Mrs. 
Smith, then a beautiful young widow, continued the house, which 
was always crowded with the best company. John Greenway came 
from Pennsylvania, purchased out Henry DickensoB and built his 
blacksmith shop on the corner.* All this time the society of two or 
three genteel families and the constant intercourse of well-informed 
strangers made Abingdon a most agreeable place. 

Although the country was settled with a well-informed population 
generally, yet there was in it a mixture of all sorts. The leading 
characters of one class were Edward Callahan and his wife Succy. 
Where they originally came from I do not know, but they were 
themselves originals. Edward was a hunter by profession, and 
when they emigrated to Holston he selected for his residence the 
banks of the north fork twenty-five miles below Abingdon, at a point 
where he could see the top of Clinch mountain through a gap 
in the river knobs. Here he lived many years. Succy was a cake 
woman, but with the cakes she sold something to drink. She made 
her appearance on the first day of every court, with a cartload of 
cakes, pies and drinkables, halted in the middle of the street and 
made an awning for herself and commenced business. Edward 
followed on foot at the tail of the cart in the full dress of the 
hunter, with rifle and shot pouch, and his fine, well-taught hunting 
dog at his heels, and when he had gotten Succy fairly started at 
her business he moved off with his peltry to transact his own busi- 
ness. Succy was a shrewd woman and adopted all sorts of evasions 
to avoid paying license, and sometimes she was hard pressed by the 
grand jurors and Attorney-Grcneral Dunlop. On one occasion she 
was nearly at her wit's end about retailing whiskey, when John 
Campbell, the clerk, said something to the court in mitigation, 
and the justices, being very willing to accept any excuse, let Succy 
off. She never forgot the kindness, and fifteen years afterwards 
I, the son of John Campbell, was riding in that part of the country 
and was benighted at Succy's cabin, when she treated me with a 
kindness and hospitality which I shall never forget and in a manner. 



*John Greenway afterwards purchased seven hundred acres of land on 
Eleven Mile creek, near the residence of W. C. Ladlock, gave it the name 
of "Springfield," and lived there many years. 



630 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

too, that showed she knew how to act her part. I have named two 
originals of each sex."* 

In the year 1786, Abingdon was a considerable village, boasting 
of two hotels, one occupying the present location of the Bank of 
Abingdon and kept by James Armstrong, and the other, kept by 
Mrs. Mary McDonald, on the south side of Main street nearly oppo- 
site the courthouse. There were no buildings west of the present 
residence o-f the late S. N". Honaker, and from this point to the west- 
ern limits of the original town was a wild plum and chinquapin 
thicket, with a few large white oak trees interspersed. 

The residence of Daniel Friel occupied the location of the pres- 
ent residence of Mrs. Kate Preston, while the residence of Mrs. 
Smith occupied the present location of the residence of Mrs. John D. 
Mitchell, the residence of Dr. Groce occupying the position of what 
is known as the White House, on the south side of Main street, while 
to the west of Dr. Groce's residence there lived several families, one 
by the name of Wise, another by the name of Eedpath (James). A 
house built by William Brice stood on the present location of the 
Colonnade Hotel. These were about all the houses to be found in 
the town in the year 1786. 

A writer upon this subject makes the statement that General 
John Armstrong, Secretary of War under President Madison, and 
General Francis Preston Blair, of Missouri, were born on the lot 
occupied by Dr. Groce; but it is more probable that General Arm- 
strong was born at the home of his father, James Armstrong, and 
that General Blair was born at the residence of his father, James 
Blair, both of whom lived in Abingdon. 

The next effort made to extend the town was at a meeting of the 
Board of Trustees at the house of William Y. Conn, on the 12th 
day of January, 1789. 

At this meeting it was ordered that all that part of said town 
lying north of the lots on the north side of Main street be laid off 
into one-fourth-acre lots, that an alley be left at the north end of 
the lots fronting on Main street, and that a street be laid off ten 
poles north of said alley, said street to be three poles wide. To 
the alley was given the name of Chinquapin alley, and to the street 
thus proposed was given the name of Office or Valley street. 



•Governor David Campbell's MSS. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 631 

Eobert Preston was directed to survey said land and to deliver 
particular plats to Andrew Eussell, and Christopher Acklin was 
directed to sell said lots at public outcry, as directed by the Act 
incorporating the town. 

It will be observed that Valley street, as originally proposed, 
was three poles wide, but at a ineeting of the trustees on the 4th 
of October, 179S, it was ordered that the street known as Valley or 
Office street be altered and made four poles wide, ten poles north of 
Chinquapin alley. This alteration in the width of Valley street was 
induced by the fact that the owners of the lands along said street 
by their improvements had evidenced that they believed that said 
street was four poles wide. At the same meeting of the trustees, 
Andrew Russell was elected secretary and was directed to record a 
plan of the inner and outer lots of said town. 

At a meeting of the Board of Trustees on the 22d of November, 
1798, Slaughter street was opened two poles wide, running from 
Valley street in a northwestwardly course to the northern boundary 
of the town land, but for some reason the name Slaughter street 
has been given to the cross street running from Valley sti'eet to 
the railroad and crossing the Main street near the Presbyterian 
church. 

The original town, as it was in 1798, contained three streets run- 
ning east and west, known as Water, Main and Valley streets, with 
two alleys north and south of Main street and known as Troopers' 
and Chinqua})in alleys, the cross streets being Tanners' street, which 
crosses Main street near to and west of the residence of Captain 
James L. White; Cross street, now known as Court street, crossing 
Main street, east of the courthouse ; Brewers' street, crossing Main 
street near to and west of the residence of Mrs. Bessie Watson, and 
Slaughter street, which Ijogan at Main street and ran a northwest- 
wardly course to the boundary of the town land. 

Most of the lots within the town of Abingdon were sold at pub- 
lic auction, previously to the year 1798. The names of such pur- 
chasers as have been preserved are given in another place. 

In the month of October, 1798, Andrew Willoughby resigned 
as one of the trustees of the town of Abingdon, and an election 
to fill the vacancy was held on the 3d day of November, 1798. 
The election was held at the court-house in said town, and only the 
freeholders living within tlio town were permitted to vote. 



632 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

The candidates voted for were Andrew Eussell and Frederick 
Hamilton, and the freeholders voting in said election were : 

William Brice, James White, 

John Gold, William Greenway, 

Frederick Hamilton, Solomon Marks, 

C. Watkins, James Armstrong, 

Eobert Diikes, Samuel Glenn, 

James Longley, Patrick Lynch, 

Joseph Hays, Michael Deckard, 

Jacob Baker, John McCormick, 

Joseph Acklin, James Eedpath, 

Connally Findlay, Andrew Eussell. 

It will be seen from an inspection of this poll-list that the free- 
holders living within the bounds of Abingdon in 1798 were few 
in number. 

On the 18th day of April, 1793, the County Court of Wash- 
ington count)^, Virginia, directed that twenty-five pounds out of the 
bonds arising from the sale of lots in the town of Abingdon be 
appropriated towards building a market-house on the courthouse 
lot; and James Armstrong, James Bradley, John McCormick and 
Claiborne Watkins were appointed commissioners to superintend 
the building of the same; and in September of the same year, the 
court appropriated twenty pounds to complete a well upon the pub- 
lic lot. 

The market-house, when completed, was placed in charge of the 
officers of the town, and Tuesdays and Saturdays were the regular 
market days, and it was made an offence for any person to sell 
butchers' meats at other times and places in the said town. This 
institution was luaintained for many years subsequent to 1793, and 
as late as the year 1810 the law governing the subject was strictly 
enforced. 

A Masonic lodge was organized in Abingdon at the residence of 
James White on the 3d day of October, 1796, and, by the year 
1800, this lodge had erected a Masonic hall in the town on Lot No. 
50, Water street, the present location of the new jail. A part of 
this building was used by the Abingdon Academy from the year 
1803 until about the year 1820. 

In 1798 Henry Clay and Captain Henry St. John Dixon came to 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 633 

Abingdon together for the purpose of settling, provided the country 
suited them. The former, after looking around for a week or two, 
proceeded on to Kentucky, where his mother had settled after her 
second marriage, and the latter, having become acquainted with 
the family of Mr. Dick White, on the farm now owned by William 
Clark, married one of his daughters and lived for many years where 
the Stonewall Jackson Institute now stands.* 

On the 20th of March, 1799, the County Court appointed Wil- 
liam King, James Armstrong, John Eppler and Eobert Craig 
commissioners to report a plan for a new stone prison, which was 
afterwards built on the public square in the rear of the present 
courthouse, James W'hite being the contractor, at the price of 
$1,532.25. 

By Act of the General Assembly of Virginia of date January 10, 
1803, the corporate limits of Abingdon were extended to the west 
as far as Lot No. 16, which addition to the town has since been 
known as "Craig's addition" to the town of Abingdon. On the 
13th of January, 1803, the General Assembly authorized the trus- 
tees of the town of Abingdon to conduct a lottery for the benefit 
of Abingdon Academy, the proceeds to be used in purchasing a 
library, philosophical and mathematical apparatus and anything 
else necessary for the use of the said Academy. By this same Act 
the Academy was chartered, witli many of the prominent citizens 
of the town as trustees, evidencing the disposition of the citizens 
of Abingdon, at this early day, to afford their children every 
necessary facility for securing an education. 

The General Assembly of Virginia, during the first fifty years of 
the history of Abingdon, adopted numerous laws extending the 
time of the property owners for building houses upon the lots 
purchased of the town, as required by the Act of the Assembly in 
the year 1778. 

On the 3d day of August, 1802, an election was held for trus- 
tees to succeed Andrew Willoughby, wlio had died, and Robert 
Craig and James Arnist]'f)iig, who had removed from the town. 
Tlie candidates voted for by the freeholders of the town were 
Andrew liussell, James Wliite, Frederick TTamilton and Jolm 



*Qhai;-le8 B. Coale, 



634 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

McClelland, the three first named being elected. The freeholders 
voting in this election were as follows : 

William King, Samuel Glenn, 

John McClelland, Pat Lynch, 

John McCormack, John Grold, 

W. Greenway, James Longley, 

A. Eussell, G. T. Conn. 

Between the years 1800 and 1810, a new courthouse was built 
upon the public square, which courthouse served the county until 
the year 1848. This courthouse was built of brick and was a very 
substantial structure. 

By the year 180G, the town and coimty had grown in importance 
to such an extent that a newspaper, a badly-needed institution, was 
established in the town of Abingdon by John G. Ustick, the name 
of the paper being "The Tlolston Intelligencer and Abingdon 
Advertiser." 

The first postoffice in Southwestern Virginia was established at 
Abingdon on the 25th day of April, 1793, with Gerrard T. Conn 
as postmaster, and this was the only postoffice to be found in the 
county of Washington, until the year 1833. It is hard to believe 
that the citizens of this county for forty years had but one post- 
office and one place at which they could mail their letters and receive 
their mail. 

From the year 1793 until about 1835, Abingdon M^as the centre 
of the business life of Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee and 
Kentucky; all mails for the sections named were distributed at the 
Abingdon postoffice; and a large per cent, of the wholesale trade 
for the same section Avas controlled and supplied by Abingdon 
merchants. 

Such was the condition of affairs in Abingdon at the beginning of 
the war of 1812, and, with the first evidences of war, the patriotism 
of the citizens of the town knew no bounds. 

A number of brick buildings had been erected in Abingdon, 
among the number being the brick building erected by William 
King, which building is still standing on the east side of Court 
street, opposite the courtliousc, and is beyond question the oldest 
building in the town of Al)ingdon. 

Abingdon was visited by its first great fire on Thursday night, 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 635 

September 10, 1812. A description of the fire and the damage 
done thereby is here copied from a newspaper published in Abing- 
don on the following Saturday.* 

"At the hour of midnight of Thursday night last we were ahirmed 
by the cry of Fire ! which pro^•ed to be in the new brick building of 
Colonel Francis Preston, which was in a few moments so far con- 
sumed as to preclude all hopes of its salvation. The flames con- 
tinued to rage until the following property was consumed : Colonel 
Francis Preston's frame dwelling h.ouse, brick building, ice-house 
and every stick of tinil')er on his lot ; two houses occupied by IMr. 
John McCormack, with tlioir out-houses: Mr. Estill's office, Mr. 
William McKee's dwelling house, his new frame store, compting 
room, kitchen, etc.; IMajor James White's saddle shop, dwelling 
house, kitchen, etc., and the building occupied by John McClellan, 
Esq. 

"This dreadful destruction of property was the work of some fiend 
of hell. An attempt was made to fire the new courthouse, but the 
exertions of a single person, a slave, saved it. Captain F. Smith, 
who was early on the spot, discovered the fire in the court-house. 
He entered when the flames had risen tO' the height of a man's 
head. He was about to abandon the Imilding, when Mr. William 
Trigg's yellow man JOE ran in, caught up in his arms the com])us- 
tibles on fire, threw them into the street and saved the building. 
This was done at the hazard of his life. Tf the conrtboiisc had 
been consumed, we apprehend not a l)nilding in tlie \\est('i'ii ])re- 
cinct of the town would have escaped. 

"The citizens arc about to i-(n\ai'd .U)]'] l)y ])i-('S('iiting liiiii with a 
sum of money. .\ subscri])tion will bV lian(l('(l the citizens of tlie 
toA^Ti for that purpase. Genth'iiicu (W the County who feol an in- 
terest in the welfare of Abingdon, and wlio nmy Imppcn Id Ik' in 
town can have an opportunity of contributing by calling <>u I'x'nj. 
Estill, Esq., Capt. F. Smitli, or Aiulrew Kussell, Esq." 

The Board of Trustees for tlic town of Abingdon, between the 
years 1808 and 1812, adopted a number of by-laws and ordinances 
which conduced very mucli to the pcnci' nml good order of the town. 
They began by first adopting rules and I'cgulations for tlic govern- 
ment of the trustees at their regular meetings. 



•Political Prospect. 



636 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

Secondly. They adopted an act to enforce the attendance of the 
trustees. 

Third. An act describing the duties and regulating the fees of the 
town sergeant. 

Fourth. An act to levy a tax on the tithables and property in the 
town of Abingdon. 

Fifth. An act to protect property in the town of Abingdon against 
fire. 

Sixth. An act concerning out-houses. 

S^eventh. An act laying off the streets and alleys into precincts 
for the purpose of keeping the same in repair. 

Eighth. An act to regulate the building of chimneys to houses 
and blacksmith shops. 

Ninth. An act to prevent oljstructions and remove nuisances from 
the streets and alleys of the town. 

Tenth. An act to restrain negroes and mulattoes from being dis- 
orderly and for other purposes. 

Eleventh. An act to preserve good order in the town of Abingdon. 

Twelfth. An act to establish market days in tbe town of Abing- 
don. 

Tbirteenth. An act concerning houses of evil fame. 

Fourteenth. An act to prohibit the female of the dog kind from 
running at large in the town of Abingdon. 

Fifteenth. An act fixing the marks of the hogs owned by the citi- 
zens of the town of Abingdon. 

Sixteenth. An act to restrain negToes from wandering about the 
streets after night. 

Seventeenth. An act allowing witnesses for their attendance be- 
fore a justice of the peace. 

Eighteenth. An act respecting patrols in the town of Abingdon. 

This last act was passed on Friday, 11th day of September, 1812, 
the day after th'fe fire heretofore mentioned. 

Among the laws adopted by the Board of Trustees at this time was 
one that provided that "any woman found quarreling or rioting in 
the streets or alleys or in any other part of said town to the disturb^ 
a nee of the inhabitants, shall be punished by ducking, as is pre- 
scribed by the Act of the Assembly of this Commonwealth." This 
law was adopted on the 29th of April, 1809. 

The by-laws and ordinances adopted by the trustees were excelTent 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 637 

in their character, and could not be improved upon by the law- 
makers of this day. 

At the time in question and until the year 1833, Abingdon was 
without sidewalks, and her citizens had nothing more than a dirt 
footway on either side of the street. 

On the 26th of June, 1811, the Board of Trustees, by an ordi- 
nance, declared that "there shall be nine feet laid off in front of the 
lots on Main sti-eet, the main cross and Valley streets for a footway, 
and the same shall be kept constantly clear and free from obstruc- 
tions for the convenience of passengers ; and that the footways in all 
other streets of the town shall be seven feet wide." 

About this time numerous trees were planted along the footways 
above mentioned, some of which are to be seen at tliis day, notably 
the large trees along Main street west of the courthouse and front- 
ing the residence of Mrs. Bessie Watson. 

If the Board of Trustees of Abingdon held meetings or made a 
record of tlieir proceedings from the year 1813 imtil the year 1828 
I cannot find it. 

The Greneral Assembly of Virginia of the 30th of December, 1819, 
adopted a new charter for the town of Abingdon, extending the cor- 
porate limits of the town east to the creek near the tan-yard of Lind- 
say & Newland; thence to Valley street; thence following the outer 
limits of Valley street to the old town. 

It is impossible to give any of the particulars of this extension of 
the town, as no record of the Board of Trustees for this period has 
been preserved. 

On May 9, 1828, the trustees of the town re-enacted, with but few 
changes, the by-laws and ordinances adopted by the Board of Trus- 
tees in the years 1808 and 1812. 

The additional by-laws adopted were : 

First. An act to impose a tax on public shows. 

Second. An act to prevent mischievous dogs from running at 
large in the streets and alleys of the town. 

Third. An act concerning coal-houses. 

Fourth. An act to restrain hogs from running at large in the 
town of Abingdon. 

Fifth. An act concerning small-pox, and 

Sixth. An act to require the sidewalks or footways on the main 
street of Abingdon to be paved. 



638 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

On the 13th of June, 1833, the following members of the Board 
of trustees — to-wit: Andrew Eussell (President), J. W. Paxton, 
Thomas Findlay, John M. Preston, Daniel Lynch, Charles C. Gib- 
son, Elias Ogden and Jacob Lynch — met at the courthouse in the 
town of Abingdon and enacted the following law : 

"Whereas the inhabitants of the said town are now engaged in 
the laudable enterprise of MacAdamizing the Main Street between 
the sidewalks or footways, and it is deemed proper by this Board 
that the said sidewalks or footways shall be paved with brick, and 
cvirbstones shall be placed next the street, in order to place the said 
Main Street in proper repair, and that this repairing should be 
made in front of each lot by the owner thereof, 

"First. Be it enacted by the Trusteees of the town of Abingdon, 
that evcMv owner of a lot on the Main Street in said town be and 
he is hereby required, within twelve months from the time said 
MacAdamizing shall be completed, to pave with brick the footway 
in fiont of his lot, and every person failing herein shall, for 
every iiKuith the said foot way in front of his lot shall remain 
unpavcd, pay a fine of ^\\e dollars, to be recovered as other fines are 
recovered by law. 

"Second. Be it further enacted, that every owner of a lot or 
part of a lot on said Main Street be and he is hereby required 
to deliver or cause to be delivered, in front of his lot on or before 
the 15th day of August next, to John Kellar, the superintendent 
of the MacAdamizing of said street, a sufficient quantity of curb- 
stones to curb the side of the foot way in front of his lot, which 
curb-stones shall be at least twenty inches in depth and twelve 
inches in width and not less than five or more than seven inches 
thick. Every person failing herein shall pay a fine of eight dol- 
lars for every lot he or she shall own, or in that proportion for a 
greater or lesser piece of ground, which fines, or so much thereof 
as may be necessary, shall be appropriated to the purchase of the 
curb-stones hereby required to be delivered." 

The approach to the courthouse from the east and west pre- 
vious to 1830 was exceedingly steep, the courthouse standing upon 
the summit of an oval-shaped hill on the north side of Main street 
and facing south. The approach from the east was not only steep, 
but large limestone rocks, to a great extent, rendered the street 
almost impassable. 



Washington Connty, 1777-J870. 639 

As early as the year 1830, C^olonel John Kellar, who was super- 
intendent of the streets in the eastern precinct of the town, spent 
a considerable sum of money in blasting the rocks out of the street 
east of the courthouse, and soon thereafter a number of the enter- 
prising citizens of the town, by private subscription, undertook the 
macadamizing of the main street of tlie town. The subscribers to 
this cause, with the amount contributed by each, as far as I can 
ascertain, Avere as follows : 

Andrew Eussell, $ 1.7 71 

John Gibson, 10 00 

Chas. S. Bekem, 5 00 

John Preston, Jr., 5 00 

Samuel Logan, 20 00 

Elias Ogden, 25 00 

John Hall, 3 00 

Daniel Sheffey, 30 00 

John S. Preston, 40 00 

General Francis Preston, 50 00 

John M. Preston, 500 00 

If there were other contributors to this fund, no record of names 
or amounts contributed has been preserved. The work of macada- 
mizing Main street was done by Jacob Clark under the supervision 
of Colonel John Kellar. 

The county of Washington and the town of Abingdon assisted in 
discharging the cost of macadamizing the main street, the private 
subscriptions not being sufficient for the purpose. 

Washington county was represented in the General Assembly of 
Virginia in the year 1834 by Colonel John Kellar in the Senate and 
Thomas McCulloch in the House of Delegates. 

Colonel John Kellar was one of the most enterprising citizens 
that ever lived in the town of Abingdon, and, as a result of his 
efforts in behalf of the town, he succeeded in having the General 
Assembly of Virginia, on the 11th day of March, 1834, adopt a new 
charter for the town of Abingdon, which charter completely changed 
the form of government and greatly extended tlie corporate limits 
of the towTi. 

Under this new charter the limits of the town were as follows: 
Beginning on the northeast corner of the bridge near the currying 
shop of George V. Litchfield, and in a line with the lands of John N". 



640 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

Humes ; thence northwardly on said line to a point in a line parallel 
to the northern boundary of the inner lots of the said town ; thence 
westwardly on said parallel and along the said line to the line of the 
land of Alexander Findlay ; thence with the said Findlay's line to a 
point parallel to the southern line of Valley street ; thence with the 
said parallel westwardly to a point parallel to the western line of the 
lot on which Jacob Loehr formerly lived; thence in a direct line 
southwardly to the line of said lot and along the same to the alley ; 
thence with said alley to Ijot No. 17 in Eobert Craig's plan; thence 
with the eastern line of said Lot No. 17, and continuing in the same 
direction to a point parallel to the southern boundary of the inner 
lots first laid off for the said town ; thence to the said southern boun- 
dary and along it to the southwestern boundary of Samuel Bailie's 
lots; thence with the line of said lot to the gate at the corner of 
General Francis Preston's and John N. Hume's land; thence in a 
straight line to the beginning. 

This charter provided that all the free white inhabitants of said 
town should be a body corporate by the name and style of Mayor, 
Council and Inhabitants of the town of Abingdon, and by that name 
sue and be sued, etc. 

This charter directed that on the first Monday in May, 1834, and 
annually thereafter on the first Monday in May, the inhabitants of 
said town legally authorized to vote for members of the General 
Assembly and the freeholders therein who may not be inhabitants 
and all other housekeepers therein not thus qualified shall assemble 
at tbe courthouse of the county, in said town, and -shall there and 
then elect ten persons, being freeholders in said town, who shall be 
called and denominated a Council, and one other person who shall be 
denominated a Mayor. The Council thus chosen were directed to 
hold two regular meetings in each and every year — 'One the first Mon- 
day after they were elected and the other on the first Monday in 
December, and at such other times as they shall be assembled by the 
Mayor. The Council were authorized to appoint a clerk and treas- 
urer, and the Mayor was authorized to appoint the town sergeant, 
surveyors and superintendents of the streets, and such other powers 
were conferred upon the Mayor and Council of the town as were 
necessary for the government and improvement of the same. 

This charter has been followed in all ,siibsec[uent amendments of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 641 

the laws of the town, and it is from this source that we derive our 
present form of town government. 

The first Mayor and Council elected under this cliarter were as 
follows : 

Mayor — John M. Preston, 

Council — Daniel Lynch, Augustus Oury, John S. Preston, Jere- 
miah Bronough, E. E. Preston, Benjamin Estill, John Kellar, Peter 
J. Branch, Daniel Trigg, Chas. S. Bekem. 

Clerk and Treasurer — Jacob Lynch. 

Sergeant — Jacob Clark. 

The Mayor and Council thus elected adopted the necessary laws 
for the government of the town, and in doing so they followed, to a 
great extent, the laws adopted in the years 1808 and 1813 by the 
Board of Trustees of the town. 

The one act adopted by the town of Abingdon that is worthy of 
notice at this point was an act to regulate the sale of ardent spirits 
in the town, adopted June 12th, 1837. This act provided that, "If 
any person witliin the corporation of Abingdon shall sell by retail 
(other than an. ordinary keeper), to be drunk in or at the place 
where sold, or in or upon the premises of which such person has con- 
trol, or within the said corporation, any wine, rum, brandy or other 
ardent spirits, or a mixture thereof, he or she so offending shall pay 
a fine to the said corporation of $5.25 for each offence." 

A description of Abingdon as it was in the year 1835 has been pre- 
served, which description is as follows : 

"It is situated on the great valley road, about 8 miles north of 
the Tennessee boundary, at the soutlieast side of a mountain ridge, 
about seven miles distant from either of the two main forks of the 
Holston River. A part of the town stands on a considerable emi- 
nence, beneath which there is a cavern containing a lake. 

"Abingdon contains, besides the ordinary county buildings, be- 
tween 150 and 200 dwelling-houses, many of them handsome brick 
buildings. A portion of the inhabitants are followers of Baron 
Swedenborg, in other words belong to the New Jerusalem Church, 
but they possess no house of worship and their preacher occasionally 
occupies one or the other of the Methodist houses. 

"There is an academy for females and one for males, (both brick 
edifices) 2 hotels kept in good style, 3 taverns principally used for 
the accommodation of wagoners, 1 manufacturing flour mill, 9 mer- 



642 Southwest Virginia, nJ^G-1786. 

cantile houses, some of which are wholesale establishmeuts and sell 
goods to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars an- 
nually, 3 groceries, 1 woolen and 3 cotton manufactories and one 
well-established nursery. 

"There are 4 tanyards with saddle and harness manufactories at- 
tached to them, 10 blacksmith's shops, 1 hat manufactory and store, 
6 wheelwrights and wagon makers, 2 cabinet warehouses, 3 brick- 
layers, 2 stone masons, 3 house-carpenters, 3 watch-makers and jewel- 
ers, 2 boot and shoe factories, 3 house and sign painters, 2 copper- 
smiths and tin-plate workers and 3 tailors. 

"Abingdon is rapidly increasing in population and trade. Old 
houses are giving place to handsome brick buildings, which the opu- 
lent and enterprising citizens are daily erecting. The main street 
has lately been MacAdamized at considerable expense, but greatly to 
the improvement of its utility, beauty and comfort. 

"As a specimen of the flourishing condition of this town, we must 
mention that a quarter acre lot, situated near the courthouse, re- 
cently sold for upwards of $4,000. There is a distributing postoffice 
here. Population, 1,000 persons, of whom thirteen are resident at- 
torneys, and 3 regular physicians. 

"County Courts are held on the 4th Monday in every month; 
quarterly, in March, June, August and November. 

"Judge Estill holds his Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chan- 
cery on the 2nd Monday after the 4th of April and September." 

It may excite some surprise when told that in this large and well- 
populated county there were in 1831 but two postoffices, the one in 
Abingdon and the other at Seven-Mile Ford ; but since the severance 
of Smyth the one at Seven-Mile Ford is now in that county, in con- 
sequence of which there is not, to our knowledge, any other postoffice 
in this county except the one at Abingdon, the county seat. The 
merchants doing business in the town of Abingdon at this time 
were : William McKee & Co., Edward M. & John C. Greenway, John 
M. Preston, Col. James White and Findlay & Mitchell, and with 
such merchants Abingdon was the centre of trade for all the sur- 
roimding country. All goods were brought to Abingdon from Bal- 
timore by wagon. 

The practicing physicians in Abingdon at the time were Drs. 
Earl B. Clapp, James W. Paxton and Alexander E. Preston, 

There was but one church in the town, and that was a frame 



Washington County, 1777-1 S70. 64^ 

structure occupied by the Methodist Episcopal church, and one 
in the vicinity, and that was the Presbyterian church situated west 
of the entrance gate tO' the Sinking Spring Cemetery. That church 
was a very old log-building, weatherboarded on the outside and 
ceiled inside, and to this old-fashioned house nearly all the people 
gathered from the town and surrounding country for the worship 
of God. 

Upon the arrival of llev. Lewis F. Cosby in Abingdon in March, 
1831, efforts were immediately set on foot to build a Methodist 
Protestant church, which church was erected that year upon the 
present location of that church. The Presbyterians, being 
stimulated thereby, at once undertook the erection of a new church, 
and in the same year their new church, now Temperance Hall, was 
couipleted and occupied. 

The Co'Unty Court of Washington county, on the 24th of July, 
1838, upon the application of John W. Stevens, captain of a com- 
pany of artillery, granted permission to erect a gun-Iwuse upon the 
public lot, and John M. Preston, Elias Ogden and Jacob Lynch 
were directed to superintend the erection of it. This company was 
organized as a result of the agitation preceding the Texas Revo- 
lution, and Captain Stevens organized this company of artillery 
from the patriotic youth of Abingdon. 

On the 23d day of October, 1838, a new county jail was completed 
on the pul)lic lot at the corner of Court and Valley streets, and 
the prison bounds were so extended as toi include the new jail. 

On the IGtli day of November, 1841, Andrew Russell, after more 
than forty years of active participation in the government of the 
town of Abingdon, departed this life, and appropriate resolutions 
were adopted by the County Court of Washington county, Virginia, 
in token of respect to his name. 

On the 27th of May, 1844, the County Court of Washington 
county appointed John M. Preston a commissioner to have a well 
dug upon the jail lot, which was done, and this served large numbers 
of the people of the town until the year 1901. 

In the year 1846, the citizens of Washington county were very 
greatly interested in the war between the United States and Mexico, 
Captain A. C. Cummings and General Peter C. Johnson taking an 
active part in the efforts made to organize the citizens of this 
county and enlist them in the service of their country, and on tlie 



644 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

25tli of March, 1846, the County Court entered the following 
order : 

"On motion of Arthur C. Cummings, Captain of the Artillery 
attached to the 164th Regiment of Virginia Militia, and it appearing 
to the court that the camion which was sent out for the use of the 
said company is being injured for want of a sh'ed to place the said 
cannon under to protect it from the weather, it is therefore ordered 
that leave be granted the said Cummings to have a suitable shed 
erected for the purpose aforesaid on the lower end of the public lot 
on which the courthouse stands, provided he can procure the same 
to be done at an expense not exceeding the sum of twenty dollars, 
and that the same be levied in the next County levy." 

A number of the citizens of this county served in that war under 
Captain Cummings, while General William E. Jones and Lieuten- 
ant John Preston Johnston did valiant service for their country, 
Johnston losing his life in the service. 

In the spring of the year 1847 the County Court of Washington 
county, Virginia, authorized the building of a new courthouse 
for the county in the town of Abingdon, which courthouse was 
completed by the year 1850, the court occupying a house of the late 
James White as a court-room from the year 1847 to 1850. 

Herbert M. Ledbetter was the undertaker of said building, and 
William Fields assisted in the completion of the building. Upon 
the completion of the courthouse Connally F. Trigg and Jacob 
Lynch were appointed commissioners to secure tables and chairs for 
the new courthouse and to have the courthouse bell removed and 
hung therein. 

It was also directed that the portico to the new courthouse should 
be enclosed with an iron railing; that the public lot should be en- 
closed and suitable pavements provided. The floors of the court- 
house were ordered to be carpeted. 

At a meeting of the stockholders of the Exchange Bank of Vir- 
ginia, held at Norfolk, Va., in the month of May, 1849, a branch 
bank was ordered to be established at Abingdon, with a capital of 
$100,000, and during the same month this branch bank was 
organized at Abingdon by the election of the following officers: 
President, Dr. Daniiel Trigg; cashier, Robert R. Preston; directors, 
John C. Greenway, David Campbell, Beverly R. Johnston, Jacob 
Lynch, Isaac B. Dunn and Thomas L. Preston. 



]yasJtinyiun Countij, 1777-1870. 645 

This was Abingdon's first bank, and the town has not been witli- 
out a bank since that time, with the exception of a short period in 
the fall of the year 1893. 

Upon the 30th oi May, 1850, a peculiar order was entered by the 
County Court, which was as follows : 

"It appearing to the Court that there is now no overseer of the 
streets and alleys in the western end of the town of Abingdon, and 
that there is at present no Mayor in said town who could appoint 
an overseer, and it further appearing tO' the Court that the street 
in said town called Slaughter or Butcher Street south of the Main 
Street is in such bad repair as to render it unsafe to pass over it with 
a vehicle of any kind or for man on horseback ; it is therefore ordered 
tliat Norman Crawford be and he is hereby authorized and directed 
to proceed and cause the said street to be put in such repair as to 
render the passage along the same safe and convenient for wheel 
carriages and horsemen, and that the expense thereof be levied out 
of the next county levy." 

On the 27th of April preceding, James H. Dunn, with ten other 
prominent citizens of the town, were elected Mayor and councilmen, 
and why this order was entered cannot be ascertained from the 
records preserved. 

In the year 185G, the Mayor and Council of Abingdon appointed 
E. M. Campbell, W. J. Deady and John C. Campbell a committee 
to have Slaughter street graded and macadamized, which was ac- 
cordingly done. 

At the April term, 1853, of the County Court of this county, the 
court appointed John M. Preston, Peter J. Branch and Beverly E. 
Johnston a committee to plant trees in the public square north of 
the courthouse, which duty was performed and the trees thus planted 
remained in the square until the year 1902, when they were cut down 
and removed from the premises. 

On the 31st day of March, 185G, a fire of considerable proportions 
consumed a portion of the western end of the town. A descrip- 
tion of the fire and the damage done, as given by the "Virginian" 
at the time, is here copied. 

"On Saturday morning last, about 2 o'clock, our town was visited 
by the most destructive fire that has occurred here since 1812. The 
hour at which it commenced, when the whole population was buried 
in slumber, and the place, in the midst of ^he largest collection of 



646 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

combustible material in the to^\Ti, rendered it but the more resistless 
and disastrous. It broke out in the extensive coach factory of 
Mr. Henry Sinon, and in the course of an hour five large buildings, 
four of them wood, were consumed, besides numerous out-buildings 
that were either burned or torn down. Mr Sinon lost his dwelling, 
his shops and every building upon his premises, besides everything 
they contained, except a portion of his furniture. Some forty-odd 
new carriages and buggies were destroyed, as well as all his lumber, 
tools, materials, books and papers, involving a total loss of every- 
thing he possessed, except his family and part of his furniture and 
apparel. 

"The house recently purchased for the Gift Enterprise was also re- 
duced to ashes, and the buildings of Mr. William Eodefer, adjoin- 
ing, were demolished to arrest the progress of the flames. On the 
opposite side of the street Mr. Michael Shaver lost two tenements, 
one his old family residence on the corner, and the other a new 
two-story brick, recently erected. 

"The wind, coming from the west, for a time threatened the de- 
struction of the whole town, as the flames broke out at various times 
and places upon the roofs of many of the neighboring buildings. 
Under all the circumstances, the dryness of the weather, the stiff 
northwest breeze, the combustible material of the buildings, the in- 
flammable contents of the large, well-filled coach shop, the hour 
of the night and consequent relaxation of the muscles and energies 
of the people, and the scarcity of water, the wonder is that the 
destruction of property was not greater, but when the people did 
get there and had their blood warmed up, they put forth all their 
energies and fought the devouring element manfully. The whole 
population was out, men, women, children and servants, and all 
performed their duty. 

"The loss is a heavy one, probably between $30,000 and $40,000, 
and the whole is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary. 
A negro girl of Mr. Sinon's, who had previously forboded or threat- 
ened evil to the family, is now in jail under suspicion. 

"Messrs. Crawford, Ellis, Joseph A. Brownlow and H. B. Tunnell 
are the other persons whose families were left without shelter, all 
of whom, so rapid was the progress of the flames, lost a portion 
of their household property. A broad expanse of blackened earth 



Washington County, 1777-1870. G47 

with a number of tall^, ghost-like chinmeys, is all that is left of the 
best improved portion of the west end of Abingdon. 

''In addition to Mr. Sinon's loss of carriages, Mr. Greenway lost 
foair, Mr. Eobortson two, and Messrs. T. L. Preston, B. K. and 
M. H. Buchanan, Thos. G. McConnell, J. M. Eose and others one 
each. 

"On Saturday evening a meeting of the citizens was held for the 
purpose of relieving, as far as possible, the destitution of the suf- 
ferers, at which John M. Preston, Esq., was called to the chair 
and John G. Kreger appointed Secretary. The Chairman ex- 
plained the object of the meeting and appointed Kevs. McChain, 
Baldwin, Dickey, and Barr and Wm. Y. C. White, Esq., a com- 
mittee to wait upon the people for such aid as they might be dis- 
posed to contribute. The last we heard of the effort, upwards of 
$1200 had been raised, which, for the citizens of town and vicinity, 
is exceedingly liberal." 

By this time tlie Virginia and Tennessee railroad was approaching 
Abingdon, and on tlie 1st day of April, 1854, the Council of Abing- 
don passed an ordinance allowing the Virginia and Tennessee Eail- 
road Company to enter the town and to use the streets and cross 
streets of the town, provided they place their depot in the town or 
at the eastern end thereof, and the citizens of the town presented 
a petition to the authorities of the new road asking that the same 
be located at the Knob Eoad, or the eastern end of the town. 

In addition to what the Council of the town did to secure the 
depot of the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad Company, the citizens 
of the town petitioned the railroad authorities to place their depot 
at the eastern end of the town, but Thomas L. Preston agreed to 
give the railroad three acres of land at the present location of the 
Norfolk and Western depot, and the depot of the railroad was estab- 
lished at that point, the railroad being completed as far as Abingdon 
by the year 1856. 

John D. Mitchell, the Mayor of Abingdon, departed this life on 
Tuesday morning, March 15th, 1859, and oh the following morn- 
ing the Coimcil of the town convened at the courthouse and ap- 
pointed Dr. E. M. Campbell, S. W. Carnahan and James C. Green- 
way a committee to draft and report suitable resolutions, which 
committee reported on the evening of the same day. The resolu- 
tions were as follows : 



648 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-17S6. 

"Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to call suddenly from 
our midst John D. Mitchell, Esq., our worthy officer and esteemed 
citizen, therefore : 

"Resolved, That it is with deep regret we have heard of the sud- 
den death of our Mayor and friend, John D. Mitchell, Esq., and 
that in his death the community has lost a long tried and faithful 
puhlic servant and an esteemed and worthy citizen, and this body 
an efficient and honored presiding officer. 

"Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the family of the 
deceased. 

"Resolved, That the members of the Council and its officers 
wear a badge of mourning for thirty days. 

"Resolved, That this- preamble and these resolutions be entered 
npon the record of the Council. 

"Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be transmitted tO' 
the family of the deceased. 

"Resolved, That the editors of the 'Virginian' and 'Democrat' 
be requested to publish the foregoing preamble and resolutions in 
their respective papers." 

This is the only death of a Mayor of the town while in office in 
the history of the town. 

Nothing further of importance occurred previously to the spring 
of 1861, the opening of the war between the States.* In the spring 
of this year the following officers of the town were elected : 

Mayor, Samuel W. Carnahan; Councilmen, James K. Gibson, 
Thomas S. Stuart, Milton Y. Heiskell, Jacob Lynch, John G. 
Kreger, Isaac Benham, Newton Iv. White, William Keller, John W. 
Johnston and William Eodefer; Sergeant, B. C. Clark. 

The charter of the town was amended by Act of the Assembly on 
the 18th of March, 1852, and by this charter the town was au- 
thorized to construct water works for the town, but the question 
had to be submitted to the voters of the town for their approval or 
disapproval. 

By an order of tlie Council an election was ordered for the second 
day of July, 1853, which election was held, but the result cannot 
be given, as no record of the same has been preserved. It is probable 
that the vote was adverse, as the question is not mentioned again 
in the records. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 649 

At the first meeting of the new Council^ on the 9th ol July, 1861, 
the following orders were entered : 

"Ordered that the Mayor appoint a patrol of the citizens, re- 
gardless of age, to patrol the town of nights, who are able to render 
such service." 

"On motion the Mayor is directed to appoint a committee to 
wait upon those who sell liquor in the town and request them not 
to sell liquor to the soldiers in and about Abingdon." 

"On motion it was made the duty further of said committee to 
request of officers permitting their men to come to Abingdon to 
require of them to leave their side-arms in their camp quarters." 

The record of the town government from this time until the 
summer of 1863 has not been preserved. 

At a meeting of the Town Council on the 18th of August, 1863, 
the Mayor was appointed a committee to ascertain at what price a 
negro man, suitable for work on the streets, could be purchased 
by the corporation. The committee reported on September 1st, 
1863, that a negro man suitable for the purpose could be pur- 
chased of Mr. Seabright for $1,800. Thereupon, it was mjoved 
and seconded that the negro man be purchased, upon which mo- 
tion a vote was taken and resulted in a unanimous vote against 
the purchase of the negro, otherwise we might now have to record 
the corporation of Abingdon as a slave-owner. 

At the same meeting of the Council, C. S. Bekem and E. M. Camp- 
bell were appointed a committee to select a suitable piece of ground 
outside of the present enclosure of the Sinking Spring Cemetery 
as a burial ground for Confederate soldiers, to ascertain the cost 
of the same, and "report to the next meeting of the Council, but 
this committee was discharged on the 18th of April, 1864, without 
reporting, and a resolution was adopted requesting Captain M. B. 
Tate, post-quartermaster, to make some arrangements as to a proper 
location for the burial of Confederate soldiers and enclosing the 
same. 

Quite a numl)er of Confederate dead are buried in the Sinking 
Spring Cemetery, and their graves to-day are unmarked, and not 
the slightest effort has recently been made to keep green the graves, 
or fresh in memory the brave souls who died in defence of their 
country, and, as they were taught to believe, in a righteous cause. 
Could these brave men again appear in the flesh and see their 



650 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-] 786. 

surroundings, how justly could they reproach their fellow-soldiers, 
descendants and kinsmen, for their failure to discharge such an 
obligation to the worthy dead.* 

By the latter part of August, 1863, numbers of wounded soldiers 
and officers were in Abingdon, and the enemy not thirty miles 
distant, and on September 1st, 1863, the owners of carriages in and 
around Abingdon lent every assistance in transporting the sick and 
wounded to Washington Springs. 

On the 25th of September, 1863, this community was threatened 
by an invasion of the Federals from the west. An account of the 
situation, as it was in Abingdon at that time, is here given : 

"On Saturday last, great excitement prevailed all over this 
county, in consequence of the apprehended approach of the Yankees 
from Kingsport, Tenn., in this direction. The particulars, as 
accurately as we can obtain them from the mass of contradictory 
rumors and accounts, are these: Two companies of Col. Carter's 
1st Tenn. Cavalry had been resting and recruiting their horses for 
a few days on Netherland's Island, near Kingsport, after their suc- 
cessive skirmishes with the enemy near Cumberland Gap, when they 
were suddenly attacked by a Yankee Brigade under General Eoss. 
Carter threw his few men on this side of the river and made a stand 
at Vance's Ford of Eeedy Creek, opposite the upper end of Kings- 
port. After holding the enemy in check awhile, a very large force 
was seen crossing the river above the island, for the purpose of 
flanking him. Carter's men then fell back, taking the Holston 
Springs road one mile this side of Kingsport, and being separated 
from the rest of the command, they proceeded to Bristol on Sat- 
urday. The Yankees kept the Eeedy Creek road to Morell's Mill 
and thence to Bristol. A large portion of Colonel Carter's men, 
from frequent skirmishing and falling back, became much scattered, 
but the small number, about one hundred and fift}^, who were led 
by the Colonel in person, fought gallantly and made a stand when- 
ever and wherever there was a chance to hold the enemy in check. 

"The enemy reached Bristol about the middle of the day Satur- 
day, and committed some depredations, among Avhich were the 
burning of the commissary house with, some say a hundred, and 
others three hundred, barrels of flour, a small amount of bacon 



*Since the above was written a neat wire fence haiS been placed around 
the square containing the bodies of the Confederate dead. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 651 

and some dozen boxes of ammunition, rifled Gugginheimer's store 
and despoiled the houses of a few citizens. This latter was done 
by a few stragglers who had been left behind and who were in- 
toxicated. 

"The enemy then started in this direction, and Carter again 
gave them fight at Millard's Mill, one mile this side of Bristol, 
farther than which they did not come in force. Foraging parties 
scattered out as far up perhaps as Col. John Preston's, but no par- 
ticular damage was done that we have heard of. They all then 
retired beyond Bristol, and, on Sunday morning, proceeded towards 
Zollicoffer, where they were met by General Jones and got more 
than they bargained for. The fight lasted several hours, with, it is 
said, a loss to the enemy of nine killed and about thirty wounded, and 
to us of two killed and seven or eight wounded. General Williams 
pursued the enemy to within two and one-half miles of Blountville 
and only returned when called back by a dispatch from Gen. Jones. 

*^A11 day Saturday most intense excitement prevailed in Abing- 
don. The company recently organized in town was under arms all 
day, together with various squads from the country, in support of 
Davidson's Battery, then stationed in this vicinity, with the Provost 
Guard, and also a portion of Colonel Carter's cavalry, and Col. 
Chenneworth and his command. From the position of our forces, 
a fair view of the road towards Bristol was had for a mile or two, 
in which direction all eyes were constantly turned. Ever and anon, 
when a cloud of dust produce'd by flying refugees, men, women, 
negroes and stock, rose in the distance. Captain Davidson could be 
seen to look sternly, and the fingers of the undrilled infantry 
pressed upon the triggers of the charged muskets. Had the Yan- 
kees approached, many saddles would have been emptied, for de- 
termined resistance was depicted in every countenance. 

"Had it not been humiliating it would have been amusing to see 
citizens and strangers stampeding through town with as much haste 
and excitement as if the Yankees had been at their heels, when 
the latter were quietly regaling themselves at Bristol, Avithout a 
thought of proceeding another foot in this direction. As night 
approachcfl, scouts brought the information that th'e enemy had 
gone in the opposite direction, when 'quiet once more reigned in 
Warsaw.' "* 



*Abing(lon, Virginia. 



652 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

From this time "until the summer of 1864, the officers and citi- 
zens of Abingdon were kept busy guarding the town, nursing the 
sick and wounded and burying the dead. To add tO' the troubles 
of the people, in the month of June, 1864, small-pox was dis- 
covered in the town, which caused a great deal of uneasiness and 
annoyance. 

Such was the condition of the people of the town in the month 
of December, 1864, when General Stoneman, in command of about 
10,000 Federal troops, arrived at Abingdon on the evening of the 
14th. By order ot General Stoneman, the depot of the Virginia 
and Tennessee Eailroad Company, the Government Commissary 
(Hurt's store), in charge of Captain Williams, the issuing depart- 
ment of the Quartermaster's Department (Sinon & Co.'s brick 
carriage factory), in charge of Major Crutchfield, Quartermaster's 
storing department (Musser & Co.'s carriage factory), in charge 
of J. E. C. Trigg, the county jail and the barracks opposite 
the jail, on the corner of Court and Valley streets, were destroyed 
by fire, the Federal officers strictly enjoining the destruction of any 
other than government property. After the destruction of this 
property, the Federal troops resumed their march to the east, but 
had not left the town more than two hours before a renegade by 
the name of James (Tites) Wyatt, who had formerly been an 
apprentice to Gabriel Stickley, being in the town on horseback, 
proceeded to fire all the property, on both sides of Main street 
from Court street to Brewers' street. He succeeded in firing the 
courthouse and other buildings on the north side of Main street 
and had fired all the buildings on the south side of Main as far 
west as the present storehouse occupied by Honaker & Sons, when 
he discovered the presence of a number of Confederate soldiers and 
undertook to make his escape, passing down Main street to the west 
with all possible speed, hotl}'^ pursued by the Confederate soldiers, 
being hard pressed all the time. When he reached Hayes Street 
he turned to the south at the eastern gate of Stonewall Jackson 
Institute. At this point he fell from his horse and was left for 
dead, but was afterwards carried into the former residence of Gov- 
ernor Floyd, where he soon died. 

The fire that he thus started destroyed the courthouse of the 
county and all the buildings west as far as the present residence 
of S. N. Honaker. All the buildings on that side of the street 



Washington County, 1777-1870. G53 

were of brick and almost all were three stories high. On the south 
of Main street every building, without an exception^ was destro^yed, 
from Court street on the east to Brewers' street on tlie west. 
The fire might have been stopped sooner, but, at the time, in Abing- 
don was hardly an able-bodied man, and about the only witnesses 
of the destruction of the town were old men, women and children. 

Thus the people of Abingdon were to a great extent rendered 
homeless, with starvation and sickness on every side and their 
country in the hands of the enemy. Such was the condition of the 
town when peace came, in 18G5. 

The fall of 1865 and spring of 1866 were used by the people 
in collecting and preserving such property as had been left after 
four years of desperate fighting. 

The first meeting of the Town Council of Abingdon, after the 
surrender, was held at the office of Dr. W. F. Barr on March 3d, 
1866, with the following officers present: Mayor, G. R. R. Dunn; 
Councilmen, jSTorman Crawford, Charles J. Cummings, John G. 
Clark, David G. Thomas, William Eodefer, Milton Y. Heiskell 
and W. F. Barr. 

The first order entered by this meeting was one repealing the by- 
laws in so far as the same referred to the punishment of slaves and 
free men of color, and the Mayor was directed to refer all viola- 
tions of the laws of the town by freed men or freed women to 
Lieutenant Woodward, superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau 
of this district. 

At the same meeting a committee of five was appointed to petition 
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Co^mpany to locate the new 
depot on or near the Knob Road leading from Abingdon, or at the 
eastern end of the town, and on March 16th, 1866, a committee 
of three was appointed to ascertain what ground could be procured 
for a depot and what subscription could be raised to aid in build- 
ing the depot, and on June 21st, 1866, a resolution was adopted, 
requesting the directors of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad 
Company to send a committee to Abingdon to discuss with the 
Council the question of the location of a depot; but, notwithstand- 
ing the efforts of the officers and the people of the town of Abing- 
don, the depot wa^ built upon the location of the old depot. 

The Council and people of Abingdon from this time hencefor- 
ward lent their every energy toward tlie upbuilding of the town, 



664 Soutliiuest Virginia, 17JfG-l7S6. 

and in a few years the damages suffered by the town as a result 
of the war were completely obliterated. 

Pursuant to the proclamation of the Governor, the courts of the 
county and circuit were held in the Temperance Hall until the 
county could build a new courthouse. 

The County Court of Washington county, in November, 1866, 
awarded the contract of building a new courthouse to the follow- 
ing persons : To Messrs. James and David Fields, the brick-work 
and plastering; to Mr. Hockman, of Harrisonburg, the carpentry- 
work; to Messrs. Keller & Grim, the tin-work; to Messrs. Morri- 
son and Vaughan, the painting. The courthouse was completed by 
the beginning of the year 1869, and at the time was said to be the 
handsomest courthouse in the State. 

On May 10th, 1873, Valley street, from the residence of Martin 
Keller to the west gate of the residence of G. V. Litchfield, was 
ordered to be macadamized, G. Y. Litchfield paying a large part 
of the costs of said macadamizing. 

We here give a description of the town as it was in 1875, written 
by the late Charles B. Coale. 

"Abingdon was endowed with its name anterior to 1776. The 
streets, of which there are seven, intersect each other at right angles, 
three east and west, and four north and south, with an equal number 
of alleys running in the same direction. The streets are sixty 
feet wide and the alleys sixteen. The main street is MacAdamized, 
as are several others partially, with brick pavements on either side, 
from one end of the town to the other. There is no place of its 
size in the State more noted for fashion, taste and morality, with its 
usual proportion of loafers and gentlemen of leisure; and, like all 
other places where there is or has been considerable wealth, there is 
a right smart sprinkling of what some people would term aristoc- 
racy, but which, in reality, is nothing more than a decent observance 
of the conventionalities of life. Many of the private residences, 
as well as the public buildings, are of brick, large and tasteful, 
and a number of them three stories high. Th'ey are generally neat, 
some of them approaching elegance, and but few dilapidated, 
though one here and there may look as if it had been rocked by an 
earthquake, or had danced to the piping of a hurricane, at some 
period in its history. We claim to have one of the most capacious 
and convenient courthouses in the Commonwealth, and by some it 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 655 

is considered a model in architecture, with its massive pillars and 
towering steeple, though the writer must confess that he cannot 
exactly see it in that light. 

"We are great church-going people and have a variety of de- 
nominations. For instance, we have two Methodist churches. Epis- 
copal and Protestant, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Protestant Epis- 
copal, and a Eoman Catholic, and for good measure we have thrown 
in a Swedenborgian Temple, and a few Lutherans, Universalists 
and Christian Baptists lying around loose. In all these churches 
are regiilar services, except the Baptist, which is rather too far 
from water to be very vigorous, and the Swedenborgian. We 
have three large and well kept hotels, nine variety stores, two 
drug stores, two fancy stores, two or three drinking saloons, half a 
dozen confectionaries, an agricultural warehouse, a bakery, a bil- 
liard saloon, an iron-foundry, three or four black-smith and as 
many wheelwright shops, two tanneries, two or three saddle and 
harness establishments, any number of carpenters, painters, shoe- 
makers, tailors, brick and stone-masons, a large brick town-hall, a 
library association and reading room, in which may be found all 
the leading literature of the day, and last, though not least, two 
of the best weekly papers within a circuit of a dozen miles, and a 
job office. The town was incorporated by legislative enactment 
many years ago, and, city-like, has a mayor and common council, 
who maintain the peace and dignity of the corporation and periodi- 
cally enforce the hog-law. 

"We have, as is the case in all places whore the people get sick 
and die, or fall out with and wrong each other, a redundancy of 
doctors and lawyers, five or six of the former and a baker's dozen 
of the latter, none of them probably making fortunes very rapidly 
by their professions. 

"There seems to be no possible chance of a diminution of lawyers 
shortly, but there is a bare probability that some of the doctors 
may take a dose of his own medicine one of these days, and if so, 
the jig is certainly up with him. One of our citizens, Judge 
Johnston, is a United States Senator, and we have a score or less 
who would love to be in the house of representatives. And right 
here it might be said, that we have three banks, all as stubborn 
as mules since the Legislature has limited interest to six per cent., 
two or three insurance companies, a machine shop operated by 



656 Southwest Virginia, 111^6-1786. 

steam, two tin and copper-smith's establishments, a photograph gal- 
lery, two barber shops and the biggest sort of a colored school." 

Nothing more of sufficient importance to be worthy of note oc- 
curred from this time until the year 1884. In the month of April 
of that year the Council of the town appropriated $100 to pay the 
expenses of a committee to the city of Washington to prevent the 
United States Courthouse from being located at Wytheville. And 
in this year the main street, from J. M. Eose's to' Wall street, and 
Wall street, from Main street to the depot, was macadamized, 
tliirty feet in width, and from six to twelve inches in depth. Side- 
walks made of brick and curb-stones were placed on both sides of 
Main street and of Wall street, at an expense of several thousand 
dollars. A large portion of the territory in the western part of 
the town was thus opened and prepared for rapid development, and 
at this time the community thus dealt with constitutes the best 
business section of the town. 

The Mayor and Council were authorized and directed to issue 
$20,000 in boDds, pursuant to the Act of the General Assembly of 
date March 4th, 1884, and, in keeping with this spirit of improve- 
ment, the Coimcil, by an ordinance passed on the 12th day of 
April, 1886, ordered all porches and steps to be removed from the 
streets of the town, and a committee was appointed on April 5tli of 
the same year to investigate the opening of Valley street, thrO'Ugh 
the property of Miss Ella V. Findlay and that of Dr. William 
White. By an ordinance, adopted on the 11th day of October, 
1886, the sergeant of the town was ordered to kill all the English 
sparrows found within the corporate limits. 

The author of the last ordinance is unknown, the record ffivins: 
no information of the member of the Council upon whose motion 
this order was made. 

About this time a peculiar order was entered by the Council of 
the town. The contest as to the readjustment of the State debt 
was the sole theme of public discussion, and, upon motion of James 
H. Hines, William H. Mitchell was permitted to erect a pole at 
the corner of Court and Main streets and near the Bank of 
Abingdon building and to place thereon a Eeadjuster flag. This is 
the only instance in the history of the town, so. far as I can ascertain, 
in which a request of this kind was made and granted. 

On the 14th day of October, 1887, S. F. Hurt, a member of the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 657 

Town Council, at the request of Captain James L. White, moved 
that an election be ordered to take the sense of the citizens of the 
town of Abingdon upon the voting of $20,000 of the bonds of the 
town to the Abingdon Coal & Iron Kailroad Company. The Council 
directed this election to be held on the 24th of November, 1887, and 
John C. Campbell, David J. Webb and W. M. G. Sandoe were ap- 
pointed, judges to conduct the election, in which election all per- 
sons authorized to vote in any election held in the town for town 
officers were permitted to vote. The result of the election was one 
hundred and fifty-three votes for the subscription and thirty votes 
against the subscription, being one hundred and eighty votes out of 
a total registration of two hundred and seventy-four. In this elec- 
tion seventy-five freeholders voted; sixty-one for the subscription 
and fourteen against it. 

The Council thereupon subscribed $20,000 to said railroad com- 
pany, John A. Buchanan, George E. Penn and W. J. Brown having 
been appointed by the Council for that purpose on December 22d, 
1887. 

The question arose as to when the bonds thus subscribed to 
said railroad should be issued, and upon this question George E. 
Penn and W. J. Brown, two of the committee, recommended that 
said bonds should be issued and delivered as fast as the road was 
graded, at the rate of $133,331^ per mile, while Judge Buchanan 
filed a minority recommendation that said bonds be issued for the 
sum mentioned as each mile of the railroad was completed, but 
the majority report was adopted, and the bonds were issued and 
delivered as the road was graded. 

At a uieeting of the Council on the 18th of August, 1888, on mo- 
tion of Dr. George E. Wiley, seconded by H. H. Scott, an election 
was ordered to be held on the 29th of September, 1888, to take the 
sense of tlie voters of the town upon the question of a subscription 
of a sum not exceeding $20,000, for the purpose of furnishing water 
and lights for the town. In this election sixty-three votes were 
poled for the proposition and fifty-seven against it, but the Council 
refused to subscribe any amount to tins enterprise. It was a 
short time only until the town obtained the benefits of a very 
efficient water and light company. 

At a meeting of the Council on the 6th of July, 1892, upon mo- 
tion of Samuel A. Carson, seconded by Colonel A. F. Cook, a 



GfyH tiuuLliirctiL Vinjiiiia, 1740-1786. 

committee was appointed to buy a lot in the town, of Abingdon, 
upon which to build a Mayor's office and city prison. This com- 
mittee purchased a part of a lot situated near the centre of the 
town upon the south side of the street, adjoining the I. 0. 0. F. 
Hall, for the sum of $450, and immediately erected thereon a very 
commodious building, which has since been occupied by the officials 
of the town, and in the j^ear 1897, a house was erected upon 
the same lot, in which all prisoners failing to pay their fines in 
money are required to break rock to satisfy the same, the rock thus 
prepared being used to macadamize the streets of the town. 

In the year 1900 Col. A. C. Cummings and D. S. Grim, surviv- 
ing trustees of the Sons of Temperance, transferred to the town 
of Abingdon the title to Temperance Hall, and their action was con- 
firmed shortly thereafter by the General Assembly of Virginia, 
whereupon John W. Barr, H. H. Scott, J. W. Bell, D. A. Preston 
and E. M. Page were named as trustees to hold said property 
for the town. It is the purpose of the town to improve this 
property, and, if this be done, it will be quite an addition to the 
town and probably a source of revenue. 

Such is a brief outline of the history of Abingdon as it has been 
preserved. 

In the words of another and a more gifted writer : 

"If there is any more picturesque country than that which sur- 
rounds Abingdon, the writer has never been so fortunate as to see 
it; that is, according to his idea of the grand and beautiful in 
nature. For a mile or two around, the landscape is undulating, 
interspersed with bolder hills generally wooded, standing out like 
islands in a storm-tossed sea. During Spring and Summer the 
whole face of the earth, except cultivated fields, seems to be covered 
with a carpet of green irregularly figured with wild flowers, a 
rural picture with a frame-work of mountains.* 

"To the south of and adjoining the corporate limits of the town, 
is 'King's Mountain,' now thickly populated. It was so named 
because of a fancied resemblance to the famous mountain in South 
Carolina, on which was fought the battle of October 7th, 1780. 
The victory won there by the western mountaineers, quorum magna 
pars were Washington county men, Mr. Jefferson said, turned the 
tide of war in favor of the United States and led Cornwallis to 



*Charles B. Coale. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. ' 659 

march to Yorktown^ to liis surrender there^ and to the end of the 
war/' 

"There were many of the veterans of that campaign alive in 1835, 
and to rehearse the incidents of the contest and impress upon the 
minds of that generation the gallant and daring deeds of their an- 
cestors, a sham battle was fought at King"'s Mountain. The posi- 
tion of the Eevolutionary commanders was occupied by some offi- 
cers who were instructed (perhaps drilled,) how to play their part, 
and the English people in red coats, with cannon and bayonetted 
muskets, occupied the crest of the hill. There was great firing of 
blank cartridges, charging up the hill and retreat from the fixed 
bayonets of the British regulars, imtil Colonel Ferguson was killed 
and a white flag raised. In all of this melee no fatal accidents oc- 
curred and few casualties."* 

To the north and northwest of the corporate limits of the town 
is Fruit Hill, commonly called "Taylor's Hill," which is thickly 
settled, and it is reasonable to say that at least one-tliird of the 
inhabitants of the town proper are without the corporate limits. 

The main street of Abingdon of the present day is fully one 
mile in length. The streets are excellently macadamized, with 
brick pavements on both sides. 

Valley street is more than one-half mile in length, a part of the 
street being macadamized, and brick pavements are on the eastern 
end thereof. This street is rapidly developing and is destined to be- 
come the main thoroughfare of the town. 

It would be a considerable imdertaking to enumerate the many 
and varied enterprises of the town. 

The chief pride of Abingdon are her educational facilities, there 
being three institutions in and near the town that cannot bo 
excelled anywhere in this country, to-wit: Martha Washington 
College, Stonewall Jackson Institute and the Abingdon Male 
Academy, to each of which a separate cliaptor has been devoted. 

Mayors of Abingdon. 

1834-1835— John M. Preston. 

1836 — James White. 

1837 —Samuel H. Wills. 

1838 —Daniel L}Tich. 



*Thomas L. Preston. 



660 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-17S6. 

1839 — Andrew Gibson. 

1840-1841 — Jeremiah Bronough. 
1842 —John M. Preston. 

1843-1844— John D. Mitchell. 

1845 — Isaac B. Dunn. 

1846 —Daniel Trigg. 

1847 —John D. Mitchell. 

1848 — James W. Preston. 

1849 —John D. Mitchell. 

1850 — James H. Dunn. 

1851 — John G. Kreger. 
1853 —William Eodefer. 
1853-1854— John D. Mitchell. 

1855 — Lewellyn C. Newland. 

1856 —David G. Thomas. 

1857-1858— John D. Mitchell. Died March 15, 1859. 
1859 — Wm. Eodefer. Unexpired term. 

1859 — N'ewton K. White. a 

1860-1861— Samuel W. Carnahan. 
1863-1864— W. F. Barr. 
1865-1866— Geo. E. B. Dunn. 

1869 — W. H. Smith. 

1870 — D. A. Jones. 
1873 — Jas. C. Campbell. 

1873 — G. V. Litchiield, Jr. 

1874 —John G. Clark. 

1875 —David P. Sandoe. 

1876 —Milton G. Heiskell. 

1877 —John G. Clark. 
18,78-1879— Milton G. Heiskell. 
1880-1881— D. P. Sandoe. 
1883-1887— John W. Barr. 
1888 —Thomas K. Trigg. 
1888-1889— John W. Barr. 
1889-1890— P. C. Landrum. 
1893-1904— J. H. Hines. 

Treasurers and Clerics. 
1884-1887— Geo. Keller. 1855-1884— Geo. E. Barr. 

1834-1855— Jacob Lynch. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



661 



Clerics. 



1887-1892- 


—Geo. E. BaiT. 


1894-1896- 


-D. T. Campbell. 


1892-1894— C. H. Jennings. 


1896-1900— 


-W, A. Johnston. 




1900-1904— W. 


H. Hamiltor 


I. 




Treasurers. 




1887-1896- 


-Geo. Keller. 


1896-1904— 


D. A. Preston. 




Sergeants. 




1834 


—Jacob Clark. 


1860 


— B. C. Clark. 


1835 


-Wm. N. Ruley. 


1872 


— Theo. P. Dunn. 


1836 


—John W, Leckie. 


. 1873 


— Isaac DeBusk. 


1837-1839- 


-L. C. Price. 


1874 


— S. G. Keller. 


1840-1841- 


—Job Clark. 


1875 


—Geo. W. Oswald, 


1842-1843- 


-M. C. Orr. 


1876 


— R. H. Henritze. 


1844-1845- 


-W. N. Ruley. 


1877 


—J. H. Hines. 


1846 


-Samuel Garner. 


1878 


— R. H. Henritze. 


1847-1848- 


-James L'eedy. 


1879 


— J. R. Deadmore. 


1849 


-Samuel Garner. 


1880-1881 


. — B. P. Morrison. 


1850 


-James Leedy. 


1882 


— F. B. Brownlow. 


1851 


-Lewellyn C. Newland. 1883 


— John W. Love. 


1852-1856- 


-Jos. A. Brownlow. 


1884-1890 


'— W. T. Graham. 


1856-1858- 


-James Henritze. 


1890 


—Geo. A. Hall. 


1859 


-W. W. Barker. 


1892-1904 


— T. H. Crabtree. 



Abingdon, Virginia. 
*Trmtees— 17.78-1834. 



Date of Qualification. 



1778 — James Armstrong. 
1808— Valentine Baugh. 
1830— Peter J. Branch. 
1778— William Campbell. 
1778— Robert Craig. 
1778— Robert Campbell. 
1808— David Campbell. 
1833— Chas. C. Gibson. 
1808— Michael Deckard. 



1808- 
1.778- 
1833- 
1808- 
1808- 
1808- 
1830- 
1830- 
1808- 



-Robert Dukes. 
-William Edmiston. 
-Thomas Findlay. 
-James Graham. 
-James Harper. 
-William King. 
-Jacob Lynch. 
-Daniel Lynch. 
-John McClelland. 



*Many of the trustees named served for many years. 



eG2 



Southivest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



1830— Elias Ogden. , 
1830 — Augustus Oury. 
1778— Robert Preston. 
1830— John M. Prestx)n. 
1830 — Francis Preston. 
1833— J. W. Paxton. 



1798— Andrew Russell. 
1778— Daniel Smith. 
1778— Evan Shelby. 
1808 — Jonathan Smith. 
1808— William Trigg. 
1808— James White. 



1 778— Andrew Willoughby. 



*Memhers of Town Council— 1S34:-1902. 
Date of Qualification. 



1834— Peter J. Branch. 
1834 — Jeremiah Bronough. 
1836— Daniel M. Bailey. 
1837 — Austin Bronough. 
1834— Chas. S. Bekem. 
1846— B. K. Buchanan. 
1847— Geo. R. Barr. 
1851 — Leonidas Baugh. 
1855 — Isaac Baker. 
1858— Wm. W. Barker. 
1859— Jos. C. Baltzell. 
1860— Isaac M. Benham. 
1865— W. F. Barr. 
1870— John W. Barr. 
1876 — John A. Buchanan. 
1876— A. McBradley. 
1876— H. C. Brownlow. 
1880— Thomas Brooks. 
1881— Frank B. Brownlow. 
1890— Wm. H. Barrow. 
1890— Geo. M. Bright. 
1892— John A. Barrow. 
1894— J. W. Bell. 
1894— R. E. Boiling. 
1900— J. K. Buckley. 

1855— Isaac L. Clark. 
1836— David Campbell. 
1838 — John C. Cummings. 
1843 — Chas. J. Cummings. 
1850 — Norman Crawford. 
1856— E. M. Campbell. 
1856- " ' ' 



-D, C. Cummings. 



1856— John C. Campbell. 
1858— S. W. Carnahan. 
1860— John A. Campbell. 
1865— John G. Clark. 
1866 — James C. Campbell. 
1876— C. F. Trigg. 
1881— L. T. Cosby. 
1884— A. W. Carmack. 
1885— A. F. Cook. 
1886—1. G. Clark. 
1887— Thomas H. Crabtxee. 
1892 — Samuel A. Carson. 

1836— John Dunn. 
1844—1. B. Dunn. 
1845 — Edwin L. Davenport. 
1853 — Hiram S. Dooley. 
1854— D. C. Dunn. 
1855 — Andrew J. Dunn. 
1855 — James H. Dunn. 
1870— Geo. R. Dunn. 
1896— J. E. Deaton. 

1834— Benj. Estill. 

1843— John B. Floyd. 
1835— John H. Fulton. 
1839— Edward Fulton. 
1845 — James Fulcher. 

1837 — Andrew Gibson. 
1842— C. C. Gibson. 
1843 — John C. Greenway. 



•Many of the persons named served for many years in 8uccei3sion. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



663 



184:6 — James K. Gibson. 
1853— H. C. Gibbons. 
1856 — J. C. Green way. 
1870 — D. C. Greenway. 
1876— W. T. Graham. 

1835 — Adam Hickman. 
1852 — Wm. Hawkins. 
1854— W. K. Heiskell. 
1860— M. G. Heiskell. 
1864 — E. M. Hickman. 
1866— John A. Hagy. 
1876— S. N. Honaker. 
1880— J. H. Hines. 
1880— Jas. A. Hagy. 
1881— Chas. Harris. 
1882— E. A. Hines. 
1882 — M. H. Honaker. 
1885— S. P. Hurt. 
1885— F. B. Hntton. 
1885 — J. B. Hamilton. 
1889— E. S. Haney. 
1894— P. M. Hagy. 
1894— P. E. Hayter. 
1896— Wm. Hagy. 
1898— C. P. Hurt. 
1849— Peter E. B. C. Henritze. 
1860 — Jas. Henritze. 
1878— W. C. Hagy. 
1835— John N". Humes. 

1887— W. B. Tngham. 

1840 — Peter C. Johnston. 
1843 — Beverly E. Johnston. 
1855 — Hugh Johnston. 
1860— John W. Johnston. 
1872— James M. Jones. 
1874—1. Franlv Jones. 
1879— J. N. Jordan. 
1888 — D. A. Jones. 
1896 — Chas. H. Jennings. 
1900— W. A. Johnson. 

1834— John Keller. 
1846— Wm. Keller. 
1860— John G. Kreger. 
1875— Martin H. Keller. 



1878— S. G. Keller. 
1894— E. B. Kreger. 

1834— Daniel Lynch. 
1836— Jacob Lynch. 
1838 — Samuel Logan. 
1844— Geo. V. Litchfield, Sr. 
1847— H. M. Ledbetter. 
1856— W. J. Leedy. 
1866 — Daniel Lewark. 
1872— Geo. V. Litchfield, Jr. 
1872— Wm. G. G. Lowry. 
1877— Paul C. Landrum. 
1892— John E. Lyon. 

1834— John D. Mitchell. 
1851— T. G. McConnell. 
1856— Noble I. McGinnis. 
1866— Samuel D. Meek. 
1870— Benj. P. Morrison. 
1878— Daniel Musser. 
1887— Samuel Mothner. 

1834 — Augustus Oury. 
1836— Elias Ogden. 
1838— James Orr. 
1850— Abram S. Orr. 

1834— John S. Preston. 
1834— Eobert E. Preston. 
1836— John M. Preston. 
1836— James W. Paxton. 
1838 — Alexander E. Preston. 
1838— Fairman H. Preston. 
1850— Walter Preston. 
1859— Samuel A. Preston. 
1866— W. H. Pitts. 
1870— E. M. Page. 
1875— Henry S. Preston. 
1884— Geo. E. Penn. 

1846— Wm. Eodefer. 
1846— Philip Ehor. 
1876— Jackson M. Eose. 
1889— David 0. Eush. 
1896— Wm. F. Eobcrson. 
1896— David G. Eose. 



664: Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

1836— Michael Shaver. 1858— David G. Thomas. 

1850— Gabriel Stickley. " 1873— Thos. K. Trigg. 

1852— Thomas S. Stuart. 1880— Daniel Trigg, Jr. 
1870— Wm. M. G. Sandoe. 

1874— David P. Sandoe. 1836— Samuel H. L. Wills. 

1886— H. H. Scott. 1838— Thomas J. Wallis. 

1896— Sol. L. Scott. _ 1851— Newton K. White. 

t^^^^^^l 1873— John G. White. 

1834— Daniel Trigg. ' 1872— James L. White. 

1835— Connally F. Trigg. 1887— Geo. E. Wiley. 

1845— Francis S. Trigg. 1888— David J. Webb. 

Postmasters at Ahingdon, 

Date of Appointment. 

Gerrald T. Conn, April 25, 1793. 

George Simpson, July 1, 1796. 

John W. McCormack, October 1, 1800. 

John McClellan, October 1, 1813. 

Augustus Oury, August 28, 1820. 

Eobert E. Preston, July 9, 1836. 

James K. Gibsoii, January 4, 1842. 

George E. Barr, July 26, 1849. 

Leonidas Baugh, May 12, 1853. 

Henry W. Baker, October 18, 1858. 

George Sandoe, March 27, 1861. 

W. M. G. Sandoe, S'eptember 6, 1865. 

Jackson M. Eose, May 31, 1869. 

Lewis W. Eose, June 25, 1878. 

Eosalie S. Humes, March 1, 1879. 

Jackson M. Eose, March 2, 1883. 

Connally T. Litchfield, March 7, 1887. 

Lewis P. Summers, March 20, 1890. 

John G. White, January 12, 1894. 

James W. McBroom, February 18, 1898. 

Eosa Eose, February 10, 1902. 

Lots Sold -by Christopher AcTcIin. 

Name of Purchaser. Date of Sale. No. Lot. 

Alexander Montgomery, June, 1787, 23 

Jo. Acklin, " 1787, 22 

Christopher Acklin, " 1787, 21 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 665 



A.ME OF Purchaser. 


Date oi 


' Sale. 


No. Lo 


Joseph Black, 


June, 


1787, 


15 


John Thomas, 


<( 


1787, 


16 


Andrew Davison, 


a 


1787, 


17 


Joseph Campbell, 


« 


1787, 


18 


Henry Harkleroad, 


(( 


1787, 


20 


Henry Harkleroad, 


a 


1787, 


19 


Devault Keller, 


« 


178.7, 


38 


Alexander Montgomery, 


cc 


1787, 


37 


James Vance, 


July, 


1787, 


32 


Josiah Danforth, 


(( 


1787, 


5 


Jacob Wills, 


" 8,1787, 


4 


James Porterfield, 


cc 


1787, 


7 


George Findlay, 


(( 


1787, 


31 


Edward Callahan, 


(( 


1787, 


6 


James Parberry, 


April, 


1789, 


34-35-36 


Walter Welsh, 


(( 


1789, 


1 


James Bradley, 


<( 


1,789, 


2 


Geo. Colvill, 


a 


1789, 


3 


Thomas Welsh, 


u 


1789, 


33 


Alexander Breckenridge 


} 


1789, 


28 


Charles Cummings, 


(C 


1789, 


14 


Eobert Campbell, 


<( 


1789, 


43 


Nancy McDonald, 


(( 


1789, 


44 


Samuel Acklin, 


11 


1789, 


51 


Eobert Campbell, 


<i 


1789, 


45 


Elijah Smith, 


April, 


1789, 


50 


Robert Campbell, 


C( 


1789, 


48 


Elijah Smith, 


<i 


1789, 


49 


James Vance, 


u 


1789, 


42 


AYilliam Brice, 


u 


1789, 


41 


John Lusk, 


u 


1789, 


52 


Jos. Gamble, 


June, 


1789, 


61 


Eobert Laird, 


(( 


1789, 


62 


Jos. Gamble, 


n 


1789, 


60 


John Fegan, 


April 14, 


1790, 


59 


Patrick Lynch, 


" 14, 


1790, 


58 


James Bradley, 


a 


1790, 


57 


Claiborne Watkins, 


" l.-i, 


1790, 


81 



6G6 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



^AME OF PUECHASER. 


Date of Sale. 


No. Lot, 


Claiborne Watkins, 


April 1790, 


82 


Patrick Lynch, 




1790, 


63 


Chas. Cummings, 




1790, 


66 


Archilas Dickenson, 




1790, 


65 


Chas. Cummings, 




1790, 


64 


Andrew Colvill, 




1790, 


80 


Andrew Colvill, 




1790, 


79 


Claiborne Watkins, 




1790, 


83 


William Greenway, 




17, 1790, 


84 


Eobert Montgomery, 




1790, 


86 


William Greenway, 




1790, 


85 


Christopher Acklin, 




1790, 


29 


Urbin Ewing, 




1790, 


6 


Josiah Danforth, S 


eptember, 1790, 


58 


Nicholas Mansfield, 


J 


ime, 1790, 


39 


Urbin Ewing, 




" 1790, 


40 


Nicholas Mansfield, 




" 1790, 


20 


Daniel Friel, 




" 1790, 


19 


Trustees, 




" 1790, 


8 


William Brice, 




" 1790, 


12 


Baldwin Harles, 




" 1790, 


16 


Alexander Montgomery, 


, April, 1791, 


90 


Samuel Vance, 




" 1791, 


89 


Wm. McDowell, 




" 1791, 


67 


Andrew Willoughby, 




" 1791, 


87 


Jos. Acklin, 




" 1791, 


69 


Christopher Acklin, 




" 1791, 


68 


Jos. Acklin, 




" 1791, 


70 


John Alexander, 




" 1791, 


71 


Wm. Mifflins, 




" 1791, 


72 


James Bred in. 




" . 1,791, 


74 


James Dysart, 




" 1791, 


78 


John Alexander, 




" 1791, 


77 


Wm. T)ela]i, 




" 1791, 


76 


Wm. Dclap, 




" 1791, 


75 


Thos. Hammond, 




" 1791, 


73 


Wm. King, 




" 1791, 


73 


Robert Preston, 




" 1791, 


73 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 667 



Fame of Purchaser. 


Date of Sale. 


No. Lot. 


James Dysart, 


April, 


1791, 


11 


Wm. Y. Conn, 




1791, 


15 


Andrew Eussell, 




1791, 


13 


Eobert Preston, 




1791, 


14 


James White, 




1791, 


17 


Gerrald T. Conn, 




1791, 


18 


Andrew Eussell, 








Jos. Acklin, 








Francis Preston, 








Geo. Simpson, 








Andrew Eussell, 








Geo. Simpson, 








Cliristoph'er Acklin, 








Jos. Acklin, 








Lands sold b}^ David Craig. 






James Bedpath. 








Jeremiah Ensh, 








Peter Deckart. 









An Act for Estahlishing a Town at the Courthouse in the County 

of Washington. 

Passed October, 1778. 

"Whereas it hath ])eGn repre^^entcd to this present general assem- 
bly that Thomas Walker, Esq., Joseph Black and Samuel Briggs 
have engaged to give one hundred and twenty acres of land in the 
county of Washington, where the court house of the said county now 
stands, agreeable to a survey thereof made by Eobert Doach, for the 
purpose of establishing a town thereon, and for raising a sum of 
money towards defraying the expenses of building a court house and 
prison, agreeable to which part of the said land has been laid off, 
and several lots sold, and buildings erected thereon; and whereas it 
would tend to the more speedy improvement and settling the same, 
if the freeholders and inhabitants thereof could be entitled to the 
same privileges enjoyed by freeholders and inhabitants of other 
towns of this state. Be. it Enacted By this Present General Assem- 
bly, That the said one hundred and twenty acres of land, agreeable 
to a survey made thereof, relation thereto being had may more fully 
appear, be and the samo is hereby vested in fee simple in Evan 



668 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Shelby, William Campbell, Daniel Smith, William Edmondson, 
Eobert Craig and Andrew Willoiighby, gentlemen, trustees and 
shall be established a town by the name of Abingdon. 

"And be it further enacted. That the said trustees, or any three of 
them, shall, and they are hereby empowered to make conveyances to 
the purchasers of any lots already sold, or tO' be sold, agree able to 
the conditions of the contracts, and may also proceed to lay off such, 
other part of said land as is not yet laid off and sold, intO' lots, and 
streets and such lots shall be sold by the said trustees at publick 
auction for the best price that can be had, the time and place of sale 
being previously advertised at least three months before, on some 
court day at the court house of that and the adjacent county, the 
purchasers respectively to hold the said lots subject to the condition 
of building on such lots a dwelling house at least twenty feet long 
and sixteen feet wide, with a brick or stone chimney, to be finished 
within four years from the date of sale, and the said trustees, or any 
three of them, shall, and they are hereby empowered to convey the 
said lots to the purchasers thereof in fee simple, subject to the con- 
dition aforesaid, and receive the monies arising froan such sale, and 
pay the same to the order of the Court of Washington County, to- 
wards defraying the expenses of their publick buildings, and the 
over-plus, if any, to be applied in repairing the streets of the afore- 
said town. 

"And be it further enacted. That the said trustees, or the major 
part of them, shall have power from time to time to settle and de- 
termine all disputes concerning the bounds of said lots, and to 
settle such rules and orders for the regular and orderly buildings 
of houses thereon as to them shall seem best and most convenient. 
And in case of the death, removal out of the country, or other legal 
disability of any of the said trustees, it shall and may be lawful for 
the freeholders of the said town to elect and chose so many other 
persons in the room of those dead, removed or disabled, as shall 
make up the number, which trustees so chosen shall be to all intents 
and purposes individually vested with the same power and authority 
as any one in this act particularly mentioned. 

"And be it further enacted. That the purchasers of the lots in the 
said town, so soon as they shall have built upon and saved the. same 
according to the conditions of their respective deeds and convey- 
ances, shall be entitled to and have and enjoy all the rights, privi- 



Washington Comity, 1777-1870. 669 

leges and imnmuities which the freeholders and inhabitants of 
otlier towns in this state, not corjjorated by charter, have, hold and 
enjoy. 

"And be it further enacted. That if the purchasers of any lots sold 
by the said trustees shall fail to build tliereon within the time before 
limited, the said trustees, or the major part of them, may thereupon 
enter into such lot, and may either sell the same again, and apply 
th'e money towards repairing the streets, or in any other way for the 
benefit of the said town, or they may appropriate the said lot, or any 
part of it, to any publiek use for the benefit of the inhabitants of 
said town. 

"And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the 
trustees of th'e said town, and their successors, for the time being, 
shall, and they are hereby authorized and empowered by that name 
to sue and implead either in the court of the said county, or the 
general Court, any person or persons who shall commit a trespass 
on the streets of said town, or lands which may have been appro- 
priated for the use of the inhabitants thereof. All sums of money 
recovered by virtue hereof shall be applied by the said trustees 
towards repairing the streets of the said town. 

"Provided, always, That nothing herein contained shall be con- 
strued to atfect the legal rights of any person holding lands adjoin- 
ing the said town."* 

BRISTOI., VIRGINIA. 

It is with delicacy that we undertake to write of a locality that. at 
the present time is attracting the attention of a considerable part of 
the business world and that is destined to become a great city. 

There has been something in the hx-ation of Bristol that attracted 
the attention of the early explorers of our country, and afterwards 
many of our best and noblest citizens. 

Some time after Colonel James Patton had obtained from the 
Governor and Council of Virginia a grant for one liundred and 
twenty thousand acres of land to be located in this section of Vir- 
ginia, Jolm Buchanan, a deputy surveyor of Augusta county, with a 
company of explorers, visited this section of Virginia and from the 

*9 Hen. S., p. 55. 




Bristol, 1856. 




Bristol, 1903. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 671 

year 1746 to the year 1750 surveyed made tracts of the choicest land 
to be found on all the waters of the Indian river.* 

Among the lands surveyed by John Buchanan were three tracts in 
the immediate vicinity of Bristol. 

The three tracts in question were surveyed for John Taylor, of 
Caroline county, Virginia, and are described as follows : 

1,946 acres, Shallow Creek, f waters of Indian river. 

1,000 acres. Shallow Creek, waters of Indian river. 

720 acres. Shallow Creek, waters of Indian river. 

The first tract was surveyed on the 22d of February, 1749, and to 
it was given the name of "Sapling Grove" ; the second tract was sur- 
veyed on the 2e3d of February, 1749, and to it was given the name of 
"Timber Grove," wliile the third tract was surveyed on the 19th of 
March, 1749, and was given the name of the "Forks." 

From this time until about the year 1765, tlie close of the French- 
Indian war, no efforts were made to settle the lands in question, so 
far as can be ascertained. 

In the year 1765, or shortly thereafter, Evan Shelby and Isaac 
Baker left tbeir homes in Maryland + and came to the Holston coun- 
try, and soon thereafter purchased the "Sapling Grove" tract of 
1,946 acres from John Buchanan, who, by assignment from John 
Taylor, had become the owner thereof. This tract of land was 
divided between Shelby and Baker by Eobert Preston, Shelby own- 
ing 973 acres, the western end thereof, and Baker 973 acres, the 
eastern end thereof. 

Soon after tlie purchase Evan Shelby erected his residence upon 
the lots now occupied by Dr. John Ensor and John H. Caldwell, 
in South Bristol, while Isaac Baker erected his residence on Beaver 
Creek, about 300 yards north of the present residence of A. A. Hob- 
son and north of the creek. The location of his residence is pointed 
out at tlie present time in an old field in which stand a few apple 
trees. 

John Buchanan died before a patent issued for said land and 
before he had executed a deed for same to Shelby and Baker, and 
William Preston and William Campbell, the executors of John 



*Now Holston. 
fBeaver Creek. 
JNow Wftshingtoo pounty, M3. 



672 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Buchanan, for some reason, did not convey said land during their 
lifetime. 

Colonel William Preston, by his will, appointed John Preston, 
Francis Preston, John Breckenridge and John Brown his execu- 
tors, and on the 2d of May, 1796, John Preston, one of the executors 
of William Preston, executor of John Buchanan, deceased, executed 
a deed to Isaac Baker, Jr., for the 973 acres of land contracted to his 
father, Isaac Baker, deceased, and on the 22d of November, 1798, 
Francis Preston, one of the executors of William Preston, executor 
of John Buchanan, deceased, conveyed to Isaac Shelby, as executor 
of Evan Shelby, deceased, the 973 acres of land contracted to Evan 
Shelby by John Buchanan. The consideration paid by Isaac Baker 
was 304 pounds, and by Evan Shelby 304 pounds. This 1,946-acre 
tract of land was patented to William Preston and William Camp- 
bell, executors of John Buchanan, deceased, on the 2d of November, 
1,779. 

Evan Shelby and Isaac Baker were intimate friends before their 
emigration to the Holston, as evidenced by the fact that Shelby had 
named one of his sons Isaac for Isaac Baker, while Baker had 
named one of his sons Evan for Evan Shelby. Isaac Shelby won dis- 
tinction at King's mountain and was several times Governor of Ken- 
tucky, while Evan Baker took an active part in the cause of the 
Colonies and served during the Eevolutionary war as deputy com- 
missary on the waters of the Holston. 

Isaac Baker by his will devised his moiety in the "Sapling Grove" 
tract of land to his sons, Isaac Baker, Jr., and William Baker. 

Evan Shelby and Isaac Baker, in their lifetime, conveyed small 
portions of their respective properties to Henry Harkleroad, William 
Bolton and John O'Brian. 

It is worthy of mention at this point that Evan Shelby and Isaac 
Baker, in their old age, were bereft of their wives, and subsequently 
remarried — the former, Isabella Elliott; the latter, Mary Head, a 
3^oung widow- — -and each was required by his prospective wife to 
make a settlement upon her before marriage, Evan Shelby con- 
ferring upon his second wife a considerable interest in his personal 
property, which was large, and of which a considerable number of 
slaves formed a part, and in his real estate at "Sapling Grove," while 
Isaac Baker made a similar provision for bis second wife, and in 



Washington County, 1777-1 S70. 673 

addition thereto conveyed to the two sons of Mary Head by her for- 
mer marriage one hundred acres of land each. 

Stirring scenes were often witnessed in the "Sapling Grove" com- 
munity from the date of the settlement made by Shelby and Baker 
until the year 1800. The armies of the State and large delegations 
of Indians were many times visitors to tliis community. 
. Colonel Evan Shelby was one of the great men produced by the 
conditions existing upon the frontiers in those days. He was well 
educated, patriotic and a very wise counsellor, and many times did 
he command expeditions against the Indian tribes living south of 
the Tennessee. 

The Virginia Government greatly appreciated his worth, and 
prior to 1781 conferred upon him numerous (very valuable) tracts 
of land within her territory, and subsequent to 1781 the Govern- 
ment of North Carolina showered upon him every honor that could 
be thought of. 

Colonel Shelby departed this life in the year 1794, leaving Isaac 
Shelby, Moses Shelby, Evan Shelby and James Shelby, sons, and 
several daughters. 

His remains were interred in a gi-ove of very fine trees and within 
view of his former residence, and remained there until the growth 
of Bristol required their removal to the present cemetery. The lo- 
cation of liis grave previous to this removal is now pointed out as 
being on Fifth street immediately in front of the First Presbyterian 
church, Bristol, Tennessee. Isaac Baker was buried in this same 
graveyard. 

Isaac Baker, Sr., at the time of his death, left six sons, to-wit: 
William Baker, Isaac Baker, Joshua Baker, Evan Baker, John 
Baker and Thomas Baker and several daughters, to-wit: Hatchy 
Baker, Susannah, who married Thomas Worley, Mary, who married 
Thomas Van Swearingen and Catharine, who married Ephraim 
Smith. 

William Baker, who obtained an interest in the ''Sapling Grove" 
by tlie will of his father, removed to Knox county, Tennessee, and 
on the 10th of September, 1799, conveyed his interest in said land, 
being three hundred and forty-eight acres, to John Goodson, for the 
sum of $3,000, and this tract of land afterwards became the 
property of Colonel Samuel E. Goodson, and the location of a large 
part of East Bristol. 



\)74: Southivest Virginia, 17.^6-1786. 

Isaac Baker, Jr., conveyed part of the lands devised to him by his 
father to William Bolton, Solomon Sell, Henry Harkleroad, David 
Worley, John Cornett, Ephraim Johnson, John Cuff, Simeon Ely 
and Jacob Siisong, while Colonel Isaac Shelby, as executor of Evan 
Shelby, conveyed the lands owned by Evan Shelby at "Sapling 
Grove" to James King, Jr., on the 2Gth of November, 1814, for the 
sum of $10,000. James King, immediately after his purchase, built, 
a residence on Solar Hill, near Sullins College and near the present 
location of the late residence of H. E. McCoy, while the former 
residence of Isaac Baker was occupied by Jolin Goodson. 

Some years previously to this an iron furnace was built on Beaver 
Creek about three and a half miles below the present location of 
Bristol at the Sulphur Springs. James King and John Goodson 
for many years exercised great diligence in farming their respective 
properties, and persons now living often speak of King's Meadows 
as a beautiful farm. 

In the year 1842, James King conveyed six acres of the "Sapling 
Grove" tract to Campbell Galliher, and on the 18th of June he con- 
veyed to the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad Company, in addition 
to an eighty-foot right of way, ten acres of land for the use of the 
company, and on the 12th of April, 1854, he conveyed to his son-in- 
law, Joseph Anderson, four acres of land. 

By tlie year 1850 the building of the Virginia and Tennessee rail- 
road had become an assured fact, and in view of the fact that the 
terminus of that road under the Virginia charter was the State line, 
the building of a town at this point was begun. 

Colonel Samuel E. Goodson had a part of his lands surveyed, and 
offered the same for sale. He gave to the proposed town the name 
of "Goodsonville," wliich name it retained until the incorporation 
of Goodson in the year 1856. 

He also gave to the Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad Company a 
right of way through his lands, and transferred to the said company 
for a consideration, in the years 1851-1852, eleven acres of land for 
the use of the said company. Among the first conveyances executed 
by Colonel Goodson was to John G. King, Jacob H. Susong and 
J. P. Hammer, as trustees for the Independent Order of Odd-Fel- 
lows, and to John Fleming, John Moore, Fleming Crumbly, D. W. 
Crumbly, W. W. James, William F. Bolton, Wm. H. Snodgrass, 



Washington Connfi/. 1777-JS70. 675 

Jesse Aydlott ami Ifardy 1*(X)1, as trustees for the JMetliodist Epis- 
copal ehureli. 

Tlio lot last eonveved was Lot No. 103 in the plan of Goodson- 
ville, as surveyed l)y Edmund Winston, and this lot is now occupied 
hy the Colored Methodist Episcopal church on Lee street. 

Some time previous to the 1st of April, 1855, A. K. Moore, from 
Pennsylvania, arrived in Bristol and decided to make it his home, 
and ever thereafter until his death, in the year 1863, he was a most 
enthusiastic heliever in the future of Bristol. He was a real estate 
agent by profession and an accomplished gentleman, and his views 
in regard to the future of Bristol were so convincing that the early 
settlers of the town were confident that it was a question of only a 
few years when Bristol would monopolize the trade and business of 
all the surrounding country. And having this object in view, the 
projectors of the town so named the streets thereof that by the year 
18()0 we find the principal streets having the following names : Vir- 
ginia street, in honor of the Commonwealth ; Washington street, in 
honor of Washington county; Eussell street, in honor of Russell 
county; Lee street, in honor of Lee county; Scott street, in honor of 
Scott county ; Cumberland street, in honor of the mountain of that 
name; while ]\Ioore street, King street, Shelby street and Spencer 
street were named for James King, A. K. Moore, Evan Shelby and 
Geo. M. Spencer, and lulmund street in honor of Edmund Win- 
ston, who first surveyed the lots and streets of the town. 

In the year 1855 the Magnolia House was built iipon the location 
of the present Hamilton Honse, and a number of small houses were 
erected on l)oth sides of Main street. James King about this time 
moved from his residence on Solar Hill to his home in South Bris- 
tol, where he subsequently died in 18()7, and his former home on 
Solar Hill was occupied and used as a boarding house and as an 
office by Dr. J. P. JIammer and Walter Willoughby. 

A storehouse and hotel were built at the corner of Washington 
and Main streets on the corner now owned by John R. Dickey, and 
was occupied by Wilson & Loyd, m(M-chants, and the hotel was con- 
ducted by J. H. Everett. 

Jos. E, Anderson occupied the l)i'i(k l)uilding on the southwest 
corner of Main and Fourth streets, and conchu-ted a store therein. 

In the fall of the year 1855 it was found necessary to liave local 
government in the town, and all the citizens of Bristol, Tennessee, 



076 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

and Goodson, Virginia, were called to meet upon the present loca- 
tion of tlie St. Lawrence Hotel, and at this meeting the Eev. James 
King presided. The meeting decided that it was necessary that the 
town should have local government, and after petitioning the Gen- 
eral Assemhly of Virginia to incorporate the town of Goodson, they 
proceeded to select one of their number to act as Mayor until a 
charter could be obtained. William L. Eice, a citizen of Goodson 
and at that time a member of the County Court of Washington 
county, and having the power in that capacity to administer oaths, 
to issue warrants for, and try, offenders against the law, was selected 
by the meeting to act as Mayor, tax collector and sergeant of the 
town. 

. Pursuant to tliis authority, Mr. Eice proceeded to discharge his 
duties, and wishes the fact to be recorded that V. Keebler was the 
first man in the town to voluntarily pay one dollar toi be used in 
discharging the costs of the government thus organized. 

Pursuant to the petition of the citizens of the two towns, the 
General Assembly of Virginia, on the 5th of March, 1856, incor- 
porated the town of Goodson, and directed that the officers of the 
said town should consist of seven trustees and a sergeant, and their 
term of office was fixed at one year and until their successors were 
appointed, and it was directed that an election should be held for 
the selection of the trustees and sergeant therein provided for on the 
first Saturday in April, 1856, and James Fields, John N. Bosang 
and A. T. Wilson, or any two of them, were directed to conduct said 
election. 

It will be observed that this Act contemplated the government of 
the town by a Board of Trustees, and nothing was said as tO' a Mayor, 
but the citizens of the town thereafter selected a Mayor until the 
charter of the town was amended, among the number thus selected 
))eing A. K. Moore, A. M. Appling, William L. Eice, Pliilip Eohr 
and others, whose names I have been unable to obtain. 

The persons thus selected to act in the capacity of Mayor also 
acted as sergeant of the town. 

It is a matter of regret that no record has been preserved of the 
early trustees of tlie town of Goodson. 

The boundaries of the town of Goodson, as set out in the Act of 
incorporation, were as follows : Beginning at a sycamore tree on the 
west side of the said town ; running thence north 23 east one hun- 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 677 

dred and ten poles; thence due east one hundred and fifty poles; 
thence due south 22 east one hundred and forty poles ; thence south 
56 west one hundred poles; thence north 37 west one hundred and 
fifty poles to the beginning. 

The sycamore tree mentioned in this Act stood about two feet 
south of tlie middle of Main street, and in front of the storehouse 
formerly occupied by T. P. Wood. 

The Virginia and Tennessee railroad reached Bristol in the fall 
of the year 1856, and at the time the following merchants were 
doing business in the town, to-wit : Seneker & James, on Main street 
behveen Fourth and Water streets at the place now occupied by 
Bunn's store; Jos. E. Anderson, at the comer of Fourth and Main 
streets, as before described ; Eosenheim Bros., on southwest corner of 
Main and Fifth streets, the present location of the drug store; 
Martin Bros., on the location of the National Bank of Bristol, and 
Wilbar Bros., on the southwest corner of Main and Sixth streets; 
Smith & Wilson, at the corner of Main and Washington streets, and 
L. F. Johnson, in a brick building south of the Norfolk and Western 
railway and near the west bank of the creek. 

J. N. Bosang kept a bar-room on the lot now occupied by the 
Dominion National Bank and Williams Walters a bar-room at tlie 
present location of the Stanley House, and in addition thereto 
whiske}' was retailed at several of the stores above enumerated. 
Three hotels were found in the town at that time, the Capvood 
House, kept by Ezekiel Caywood, at the present location of the 
Thomas House; the Magnolia House, kept by Peck & Langliorne, 
at the present location of the Hamilton House, and the Virginia 
House, kept by John H. Everett, at the corner of Main and Wash- 
ington streets on the Dickey lot. Tn addition to the places named 
several small houses were found along the Virginia side of Main 
street from Fourth to i\roore, and one brick residence on Main 
street between Fourth and Water streets, east of Bosang's bar-room, 
and known as the Zimmerman House, A portion of this house is 
now occupied by Col. J. B. Peters, President of tlie Board of Health, 
as an office. 

In the year 1855, upon tlie application of William L. Eice, the 
county court of this county appointed John F. Preston, Wallace 
Maxwell, Moses H. Latham, William B. Campbell, E. E. Ehea and 
Jonathan T. Hanby commissioners to view a location for a road 



678 SoulJiwcst Virginia, 17.'jG-17SG. 

from the town of Goodson to tlic Jonesl)oro road at or near the lands 
of John L. Bradley, three miles west of Abingdon. The commis- 
sioners thus named made their report, and the main Bristol road was 
opened in the following year. 

In December of this year the county court of this county ap- 
pointed the following citizens living in the vicinity of Goodson to 
patrol in the neighborhood of Goodson : Eoland T. Legard, captain, 
James T. Preston, Henry A. Wilds, William A. Preston, E. L. 
Brooks, John P. Buchanan, Josejdi Phea, Alexander, James, and 
Jacob Carmack. 

In the following year Xunley e\: Fuqua and ]5ooker & Trammel 
«'ere licensed to conduct business in the town of Goodson. 

Early in the year 1857 a number of the citizens of Goodson and 
Bristol, recognizing the importance of a newspaper, formed a joint 
stock company and purchased a printiug press in Philadelphia, and 
in the month of May, 1857, began the publication of the Bristol 
News. The head lines of this paper presented a very suggestive 
scene. To the left of the page was placed an engine and car and to 
the right was placed a man on horseback, the train and horseman 
facing to the centre of tlie page. This paper was edited for a short 
while by A. K. Moore, who was succeeded by J. Austin Speery. 
Speery continued to edit this pajjcr until the 3^ear 18()2, in which 
year he became the editor of the Knoxville Register, and the News 
was discontinued until 18(55. In 1858 Lafayette F. Johnson and 
Andrew Manonie were licensed to transact business in Goodson by 
the county court of Washington county. 

On the 10th of May, 1858, at about 1 o'clock A. M., in the night 
time of that day, the Magnolia Hotel was destroyed by fire and 
Minor Boler and George Ligon, free men of color, were arrested 
and tried, charged with having (ired said l)uilding, Init were ac- 
quitted. 

Soon thereafter the county court of this county appointed the 
following citizens to patrol in tli(> town of Goodson : Eobert B. Moore, 
captain, Lucian Johnson, J. F. II. Ledbetter, Edward Johnson, 
John C. Garner, Samuel G. Booker, Hardy Pool, John Hammit, 
James Williams and Joseph Barnes. 

Aboiit this time two lawyers came to Bristol and decided to make 
it tlieir t'utui'e home, John S. Mosbv* and Gideon Burkett. 



'The siiico celebrated Colonel John S. Mosby. 



Washinf/foN. Couiih/. J777-1S70. G79 

Biirkutt locatcf! on the 'I'ciuh sst'c side ol' the town and liad his office 
in the frame l)iiikling that stood upon tlie lot occupied by Kosen- 
heim Bros., while Mosby settled on the Virginia side and had his 
office in a building, owned l)y James King, that stood upon the lot 
now occupied by the Tip-Top IJestaurant, at the corner of Cumber- 
land and Fourtli streets. 

Bristol. A^irginia, should be ]u-oud of the fact that her first lawyer 
afterwards distinguished himself in tlie defence of his State. 

In the year 1859 Eaine & Megginson, Jos. W. Jones, Lafayette 
F. Johnson and Raine & Jamison were licensed to transact busi- 
ness in the town of Goodson, and John S. Mosby qualified as a 
notary public. 

By the year ISiiO Col. Goodson had sold and transferred lots in 
the town of Goodson to tlie following citizens : Reuben H. Crabtree, 
J. N. Bosang, Thos. E. Bibb, Morgan & Thomas, James H. John- 
son, J. C. Hayter, Samuel Sells, John B. Wagoner, M. T. & James 
W. Morgan, Jane G. Wilds, Thos. Lanahan, Stephen Connelly, 
A. T. Wilson, Ella Shelor, Sarah A. Howard, Henry Eosenheim, 
David Eust, John OBrian, Elijali Coman, John Ehea, George M. 
Spencer, Mary A. Hammit, David P. Jamison, x\lex. ]\Iorgan, James 
Johnston, H. D. Shell, T. X. j\IcQuown, Thos. J. Morrison, Wm. 
Eencher (colored barber), John Dulaney, Cordle Harmeling, L. F. 
Johnston, W. E. Eakin, Wm. Trammel. I. B. Dunn, S. H. Milliard, 
James A. Apling, D. J. Knsor, and many others. 

The Eev. James King luul sold to David F. Scranton and Joseph 
Johnston, of Savannah. Georgia, sixty-five and a half acres of land, 
and they had conveyed ])aiis thereof to W. L. ^lartin, James A. 
Apling, W. F. Moon, M. W. Jones, Alexander F^azenbay, Josse 
Aydlott, \. KeebFer, Samuel I*]. IMiilips, IJridgel Powers, Sparrel 
Askew, John II. Xewiiian, Tlios. K. i.aiKaster, .los. W. Jones, and 
several others. 

Such was Goodson, as best it can he desciihed. at the opening of 
the war between the States. 

In the spring of the year 18(il IMiilip Kohr was elected IMayor, 
V. Keebler Eecorder and Treasurer, Cain])bell Galiih'er, Sergeant, 
and J. N". Bosang, J. E. Pepper, John Johnston and W. H. Tram- 
Tnel aldermen of said town, and the officers thus elected served with 
but few changes until the year 1870. 

Immediately u])on the declaration of war a company was or- 



680 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-I7S6. 

ganized at Goodson, to which was given the name of the Goodson 
Rifles, of which company John F. Terry was elected captain. 
This company was assigned to^ the Thirty-seventh Virginia Eegi- 
ment, commanded by Col. Samuel V. Fulkerson, and many brave 
deeds are recorded as having been performed by the members of this 
company. 

On the 23d of July, 18G1, Campbell Galliher, Sergeant of the 
town of Goodson, appeared before the county court of Washington 
county and represented to the court the need of firearms in said 
town, whereupon the county court directed the sheriff of this 
county to lend to the said Galliher, for use in the town of Goodson. 
ton gnus, the property of the Commonwealth. 

In the month of February, 1SG2, Martin Ij. Comann and Rev. 
W. W. Neal purchased from Henry W. Baker the outfit of tlic 
Abingdon Democrat, and on the 2,7th of Marcli, 1862, the first issue 
of the Southern Advocate was published in the town of Goodson, 
the Bristol News having passed out of existence at this time. Tlie 
headline of this paper was such as to be worth recording. Between 
the words Southern and Advocate, which were printed in large let- 
ters, were placed the seal of the State of Virginia and the seal of 
the State of Tennessee, and above the seals was printed in small 
type "Virginia & Tennessee.'" From tliis paper I ascertain that 
Jos. B. Palmer was at that time practising law in the town of 
Goodson, that I.-. A. Womack and W. W. Nickels were the pro- 
prietors of the Exchange Hotel, afterwards the Nickels House, and 
that the Bank of Philipjn was temporarily transacting business in 
Goodson, with L. D. Morall as president and J. W. Payne as cashier. 
The Provost Marshal stationed at Bristol in the year 18G2 was 
Joshua H. Pitts, but he was shortly thereafter succeeded by Wil- 
liam D. Gammon. 

In the month of April the authorities of the Presbyterian and 
Methodist churches of Bristol tendered the use of their churches to 
the authorities of the Confederate States for the care of the sick 
and wounded soldiers. 

In 1862 a young ladies' boarding school was conducted in Bristol 
by Mrs. M. M. Bailey and was continued for several years there- 
after. At the same time two schools for boys were conducted in the 
town the Bristol-Goodson Academy, of which Thos, D. Wal- 
thall was principal, and the Bristol High School, of which Prof. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 681 

H. C. Neal was pi;incipal. From the files of the Souther-n Advocate 
we ascertain that W. M. Pettyjohn was conducting a general land 
agency, L. M. Hall practising dentistry, and A. P. Johnston, J. F. 
Parrot, M. D. Richmond & Co., Johnston & Pile and Wilbar Bros., 
merchants, were doing business in the town. 

In February, 18C3, small-pox appeared in the town, causing a 
gi-eat deal of uneasiness, and Philip Eohr, the Mayor of Goodson, 
applied to the County Court of Washington county and was al- 
lowed the sum of five hundred dollars to fight the small-pox in the 
town. 

In the spring of this year the Southern Advocate ceased to exist, 
and the first issue of the State Line Gazette was published on the 
6th of March, 1863. Martin L. Comann and Wm. L. Rice owned 
and edited this paper, and afterwards W. W. Langhorne, a young 
lawyer who had settled in the town, was associate editoi'. This 
paper lived about five years, and ceased to exist. 

By this time Goodson contained a considerable population, and 
on the 25th of May, 186.3, Wm. F. Moon* petitioned the County 
C^ourt of Washington county for the establishment of a voting pre- 
cinct in the town, which precinct was established at the storehouse 
of A. M. Apling, and Wm. L. Eice was appointed conductor and 
AVm. F. Moon, Malon S. Susong, Valentine Keebler, Elijah 
Seneker and Hugh M. Milliard commissioners to hold all elections 
in said town. In the fall of the year 1863 the Federal forces 
reached Bristol and destroyed the freight depot, the brick stoa-e- 
house occupied by L. F. Johnston, and the Masonic Lodge. And 
while the town was visited several times thereafter by the Federal 
forces during the war, no other property was destroyed by fire. 

In this year A. K. Moore was killed by Captain Lucas, of Ken- 
tucky, at the Tliomas House, in Bristol, Tenn. 

Upon the close of the war, and in 1865, tlie Bristol News was 
resurrected by John Slack, and the first issue of this paper appeared 
on the 9th of August, 1865. 

From the files of this paper wo find that Chas. R. Vance, J. R. 
Deadrick and J, B. Palmer, practising attorneys, then lived in 
Bristol-Goodson. 

Previous to the incorporation of Goodson by the General Assem- 
bly in the year 1856, and probably as late as the year 1860, the 



*Fatlier of John A. Moon, M. C, from tlie. Tliird Tenni-ssoc Disdict. 



682 SoutJiirest Virgi7Ua, 17J,G-17S0. 

postoffice was "Sapling Grove/"' and was at first kept in the resi- 
dence of James King on now Solar Hill, and afterwards in a small 
frame house on the lot now occupied by the St. Lawrence Hotel. 
The postoffice was removed to the Tennessee side of the town in 
18G5, by order of President Johnson. 

Early in the year 1866, the Rev. James King donated property 
situated in South Bristol, and valued at $16,000, for tlie purpose of 
establishing a school for young men, and to be under the manage- 
ment of the Holston Presbytery. The Presbytery wliich met at 
Leesburg, Tenn., shortly thereafter, accepted tlie proposition of Mr. 
King and appointed a board of curators, consisting of fifteen gen- 
tlemen, and this board was directed by the Presbytery to assemble 
in Bristol on tlie 4th of July, 1866, for the purpose of organizing 
the school and electing officers for the same. This school was or- 
ganized, and has for many years been known as King College, one 
of the best-equipped schools to be found in all this section of the 
Holston countx3^ 

The Virginia and Kentucky railroad was undertaken, and con- 
siderable work was accomplished on said road previously to 1861, but 
tWe outbreak of the war caused a cessation of all work for the time; 
but interest in the building of this road was again manifested in the 
year 1866, and the attention of the citizens of Goodson-Bristol to 
this matter was urged by Eobert W. Hughes, president of the com- 
pany, and a mass-meeting of the citizens was held in the ]\retho- 
dist church in Goodson in this year. 

Governor Francis H. Pierpoint and the Board of Pul>lic Works 
attended this meeting, and a great deal of interest was manifested. 
The meeting was called to order by the Eev. Philip Eolir, then 
Mayor of Goodson, Eol)ert W. Hughes was elected chairman 
and Chas. R. Vance secretary, and strong resolutions, prepared by 
a committee composed of James King, John Slack and Wm. L. 
Eice, were adopted, and Jos. E. Anderson, Philiji Eohr and L. F. 
Johnston were appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions tO' the 
enterprise. The building of this railroad M'as begun, and, in addi- 
tion to the subscriptions of private individuals, the town of Good- 
son, on the IStli of May, 1877, subscribed five thousand dollars to 
the Bristol Goal and Iron N"arrow-Guage Eailroad Company, tlie 
successor of the Virginia and Kentucky railroad, and to-day this 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 683 

road, now called the Virginia and Southwestern, is one of the most 
profitable enterprises that Bristol can boast of. 

In March, 1866, the following lawyers were practising in the 
towTi of Groodson: W. W. Langhorne, J. B. Maclin, N. M. Taylor 
and York & Fiilkerson. 

In the fall of this year the Bristol News was leased by John Slack 
to David F. Bailey, and the first issue of the News published by 
Bailey was on the 9th of August, 1867. From an inspection of this 
paper we find that M. L. Blacklcy and W. X. Clarkson wore prac- 
tising law in the towTi, and that the Bristol High School, under the 
management of J. D. Tadlock, and a male and female school, under 
the management of B. G. Maynard, were doing a thriving business. 

The Bristol News was edited by D. F. Bailey, and then by Bailey 
and Eamey, and on August 7th, 1868, was sold and transferred to 
I. C. and Elbert Fowler. 

In the year 1870 John Slack began the publication of the Bristol 
Courier, and the two papers, the News and the Courier, are still pub- 
lished in Bristol. 

At the time of the total eclipse of the sun in the month of Au- 
gust, 1860, Goodson being in the centre of the path of totality, the 
United States Coast Survey directed Colonel R. D. Cutts, of the 
United States Xavy, to proceed to Bristol and to prepare for making 
observation during the eclipse. Colonel Cutts visited Goodson and 
erected an observatory on Lancaster Hill, now called Sohir Hill. 
The observations were taken, and the latitude of Goodson ascer- 
tained to be 36° 35' 50.2", the longitude to be 5° 08' Washington 
time, 20-33 fast. Afterwards, in the year 1870, the street now 
known as Solar street was o])ened, and the ol)servatory used by 
Colonel Cutts was found to Ix^ in the centre of the proposed street, 
and from tliat circumstance, and at the suggestion of the Mayor, 
the street was called Solar street; and the hill has since been called 
Solar Hill. 

By the year 1870 Goodson had gi'own rajiidly and the future of 
the town was exceedingly bright, and in this year the General As- 
sembly of Virginia amended the charter of the town and extended 
the corporate limits, the provisions of said charter as to the limits 
of said town being as follows : Beginning at tlie intersection of the 
A^irginia and Tenm^see States' line and the western boundary line 
of the town cemeterv, and running west with said State line twentv- 



684 - South west Yirginia, 1746-1786. 

two hundred yards; thence north nine liundred and fifty yards; 
thence east twenty-two hundred yards on a line parallel with the 
States' line; thence south nine hundred and fifty yards to^ the point 
of beginning. This Act provided for a mayor, five councilmen, a 
recorder and sergeant, all to be elected by the vote of the people, and 
directed that the election should be held for that purpose on the 2d 
of July, 1870, at King Block, on Front street, and Jolm N. Bosang, 
Jolm Keys and Jesse H. Pepper were directed to superintend said 
election. 

The first election held under this Act resulted in the election of 
the following officers : 

Mayor — I. C. Fowler. 

Eecorder— J. T. Millard. 

Sergeant — J. L. Ligon. 

Councilmen — John H. Winston, President; S. L. Saul, Chas. T. 
Pepper, Geo. H. DeVault and Jos. W. Owens. 

At a meeting of the Mayor and Council on the 27th of July, 
1870, rules and regulations were adopted by the Council for tlie 
government of the body in their proceedings, and the foundations 
were laid for an era of prosperity and groAvth that has met the ex- 
pectations of the most ardent friends of the town. 

By the amended charter the Council of the town was authorized 
to provide a building for the safekeeping of all persons sentenced to 
imprisonment under the ordinances of the town, and, pursuant to 
this authority, the Council appointed a committee to select a place 
and to ascertain the cost of such a building. This committee 
selected a place on Washington street, now Wagoner's planing mill, 
and employed Archer & Carmaek to erect the necessary buildings 
thereon. 

At a meeting of tlic ]\Iayor and Council of tlie town on the 23d 
of January, 1871, the Council requested the General Asseml)ly of 
Virginia to amend the charter of the to\\Ti sO' as to increase the 
Council from five to seven members, and to authorize the Council of 
the town to open and extend the streets of the town, and to sub- 
scribe a sum of money, not exceeding hventy-five thousand dollars, 
to be used in purchasing suitable grounds within tlie limits of tlie 
town for a public square, for building a town hall, and also for tlie 
purpose of purcliasing a tract of land then within the corporate 
limits of the said lown, the property of Joseph Johnston, and giving 



Washington Couniy, 1777-1870. G85 

to the Council the aiithority to hiy off said land^ when purchased, 
into lotS;, and dispose of the same to the hest interest of the corpora- 
tion, and pursuant to this petition the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia, on the 14th of March, 1871, amended the charter of Goodson 
as petitioned for, except that it was provided that no subscription 
should be made until the expediency thereof should be submitted to 
the qualified voters in the corporation and should receive three- 
fifths of the votes actually polled at said election; and it was fur- 
ther provided that said property, when purchased, should be sold 
by the Council, and for the purpose of improvement only. 

The Council of Bristol ordered this election to be held, and the 
proposition to purchase the Johnston lands received more than 
three-fiftlis of all the votes polled, and these lands, containing about 
sixty acres, were purchased by the Mayor and Council of Goodson 
for the sum of eighteen thousand dollars. 

On the 8th of May, 1871, I. C. Fowler, John H. Winston and 
Jos. W. Owens were appointed a committee to superintend the lay- 
ing off of said lands into streets and lots, and Thos. D. Walthall 
was designated to survey said land. The lands when laid off into 
lots were ordered to be sold, and Dr. David Sullins was the auc- 
tioneer. 

After the sale of these lots, and in the fall of the same year, the 
lots owned by the town and the money and notes received from tlie 
purchasers of lots previously sold amounted to $41,218, or $16,000 
profit on the investment. 

On the loth of June, 1870, the General Assembly of Virginia 
incorporated the Bank of Goodson, with Z. L. Burson, W. W. 
James, I. C. Fowler, U. L. York and I. B. Dunn as directors. This 
bank was organized and transacted business in Goodson for several 
years, and was known as James' Bank. 

In August of the year 18,71, while great improvements wei'o 
being projected and the Council of Goodson was transacting the 
most extensive real estate business that the town has known in its 
history, the Council of the city were presented with a melon by the 
"Marble Players" of the town, and the present was so much a^jprc- 
ciated that the Co\incil at its meeting on the 29th of August 
adopted the following resolution : 

"Resolved That the thanks of the Council be tendered tlie ']\far- 



686 Southwest Virginia, 17Ji6-1786. 

ble Players' of this corporation for the pret^ent of a magnificent 
melon." 

In the same year a chain-gang was organized, and in the year 
1873 goats, swine and cows were prohibited from running at large 
in the town. 

In 187-f it was provided that wooden buildings should not be 
erected in the town exco})t u}X)n th© petition of two-thirds of the 
land-owners in the square where the building was proposed to be 
erected, and from the year 1871 to 1880 most of the streets of the 
town were macadamized, and in many cases extended so as to meet 
the requirements of a rapidly increasing population. 

In the year 1881 it was thought necessary by the Council of 
Goodson to have a public building erected for the use of the officers 
of tlie town, and the question was submitted to the vote of the peo- 
ple, and having received the necessary vote, the Council ap}X)inted 
John H. Winston, Z. L. Burson and W. W. James a committee to 
report a plan and the cost of a public building. This committee re- 
ported, and a very commodious hall, built of brick, was erected 
some time thereafter on the corner of Cumberland and Lee streets, 
at a cost of about $7,000 to the corporation. 

By the year 1890 the town of Goodson had grown to be a city, 
and the inconvenience attending the transaction of the legal busi- 
ness of the town at Abingdon created a public demand for the es- 
tablishment of a corporation court for tiie city, and in answer to 
this demand the General Assembly of Virginia, on the 12th of Feb- 
ruary, 1890, changed the name Oif the town of Goodson to that of 
the city of Bristol, and adoi)ted a new charter for said city. The 
officers provided for by the new cliarter were a mayor, treasurer, 
nine council men, a clerk of the corporation court, an attorney for 
the (Commonweal lb, a sergeant, one justice of the peace for each 
ward in said city, and one constable. Pursuant to this Act of the 
Assembly, the first Cor])orati()n Court of tlie city of Bristol assem- 
bled in the City Hall on the 3d of March, 1890, Judge Wm. F. 
Ehea presiding. The following officers were ai)])ointed by the court 
for said city : Clerk, J . H . Winston, Jr. ; Commonwealth's Attor- 
ney, W. S. Hamilton; Treasurer, C. C. Minor; Sergeant, Chas. 
Worley; Commissioner of the Eevenue, J. W. Mort. 

The court thus organized has continued until the present time 
and is at this time presided over by Judge Wm. S. Stuart. The 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 687 

city of Bristol has groAvn rapidly and to-day it is a very thrifty city, 
with beautiful streets and many large and handsome business 
houses. 

In the city of Bristol are to be found two female colleges — to- 
wit : Sullins College and the Southwest Virginia Institute — that 
cannot be excelled anywhere in the South. 

In the year 1903 the Norfolk and Western Eailway Company 
tore dowTi the old depot, erected in 18G5, and on the same site 
erected as handsome a depot as is to be found in Southwest Virginia. 

Census of Bristol, Viuginia. 

1880 1,56S' 

1890 • 2,902 

1900 4,579 

Census of Bristol^ Tennessee. 

1880 1,647 

1890 3,324 

1900 5,271 

Officers of Bkistol-Goodson. 

Mayors. 

1871-1875—1. C. Fowler. 
1875-1886— John F. Terry. 
1886-1889— A. F. Miles. 
1889-1894— W. A. Kader. 
1894-1898— J. IT. Winston, Jr. 
1898-1902— Chas. F. Gauthier. 
1902 —William L. Bice. 

Sergeants. 

1871-1872— J. L. Ligon. 
1872-1874—1). A. Wheeler. 
1874-1875— W. H. Trammcll. 
1875-1877— R. T. Hamlet. 
1877-1881- John B. Keller. 
1881-1884— D. A. Wheeler. 
1884-1887— Chas. Worley. 



688 Southivest Virginia, 17.^0-1186. 

1887-1888— W. P. Hughes. 
1888-1890— Chas. Worlcy. 
1890-1802— W. J. Cox. 
1892-1894— Justin King. 
1894-1898— John H. Gose. 
1900 — Luther Ensh^, resigned. 

1902 — Jerry Bunting, appointed. 

Recorder and Treasurer. 

1870-1876- T. J. Millard. 
1876-1878— M. T. Devault. 
1878-1884— G. G. Hickman. 
1884-1885— James Byrne. 
1885-1886— A. F. Miles. 
1886-1887— G. G. Hickman. 
1887-1888— John D. Witt. 
1888-1890— J. W. Mori, Clerk. 
1890-1 89^^J. H. Winston, ,7r.. Clerk. 
1894-1896— J. A. Stone, 
1896-1897— G. H. Eeed, 
1897-1900— H. Doriot, 
1900-1902— W. H. Price, Jr., 
1902 —J. H. Gose, 

1902 —P. C. Marsh. " 

Judges of Corporation Court. 

1890-1896— Wni. F. Ehea. 
1896-1904— Wm. S. Stuart. 

Commomvealilis Attorneys. 

1890-1894— William S. Hamilton. 
1894-1896— Preston Lewis Gray. 
1896-1904— John S. Ashworth. 

Clerlis of Corporation Court. 

1890-1894— J. H. Winston, Jr. 
1894-1896— Isaac Sharett. 
1896-1898— James A. Stone. 
1898-1902— W. H. Price, Jr. 
1902 —John H. Gose. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 689 

Treasurers. 

1890 — C. C. Minor. 

1890-1896— J. L. C. Smith. 
189G-1904— J. W. Owens. 

Commissioners of the Revenue. 

1890-189G— J. W. Mort. 
1896-1900— J. W. Frizzell. 
1900-1903— S. D. Keller. 
1902-1904— Geo. W. Ilammit. 

Chief of Police. 

1896-1898— Cieo. W. Wolf. 
*1898-1904— W. B. Kilgore. 

VILLAGES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 
Glaue Spring. 

Glade Spring is situated in the best section of Washington county, 
and previous to the spring of the year 1856 but five houses were to 
be found in that vicinity, viz., the residence of David Beattie, 
which occupied the location of the present residence of Mrs. W. B. 
Cobb ; the house of Beattie Allison, now occupied by Mrs. Brewer ; 
a log liouse occupied by David (Proctor) Edraondson, on the lot 
where Dr. W. L. Dunn's residence stands; the residence of W. Mc. 
Rybum and the residence of James 0. Ryburn, now occupied by 
his widow. 

The Virginia and Tennessee railroad was completed tO' this place 
in the spring of the year 1856. A depot was built, and for a 
short time was called Passawatamie, but it was changed within a 
short time to Glade Spring by tlio request of all the citizens of 
that community. 

The name Glade Spring was derived from Glade Spring Presby- 
terian church, located some distance south of the town. 

In the year 1856, about the time the depot was erected, 
W. B. Dickenson and J. S. Buchanan employed Francis SmitJi, 
of Abingdon, to erect the frame building, now painted red, stand- 
ing a short distance southwest of tlie depot and on tlie main road. 



*Lists furnished by Captain Frank T. Barr. 



690 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

and Dickenson & Buchanan occujiicd Uu* same as a storehouse for 
five years theroaftO'r. This was the first husiness house established 
in Glade Spring. 

By the year 18G1, a considerable village had grown up around 
the depot at Glade Spring and considerable business was trans- 
acted there. 

This is one town in Southwestern Virginia that escaped the 
ravages of the Federal forces in 18G4-18()5, the depot being saved 
at the request of David (Proctor) Edmondson. 

Since the close of the war Glade Spring has been incorporated 
by the General Assembly of Virginia and now has a full quota 
of town officials, namely: 

Mayor — J. T. Morris. 

Councilmen — W. K. Brooks, M. V. Edmondson, J. D. Kent, 
Samuel Keys and E. M. Atkins. 

Three attorneys at law, to-wit: Selden Longley, S. D. Jones 
and A. M. Dickenson, have had their homes in the town at different 
times since 1870, and for a number of years a newspaper and a 
bank have thrived in the town. 

The citizens living in and around Glade Spring cannot be ex- 
celled for virtue, wealth, intelligence and enterprise anywhere in 
our country. 

Postmasters — Glade Spring. 

Office established December 30, 1833. 
1833-1839— David R. Srayth. 
1839-1845— Ts^ickerson Snead. 
1845 — John K. Cunningham. 

1845-1847— Benjamin E. Aker. 
1847-1852— D. M. Stewart. 
1852-1853— Samuel Vance. 
1853-185G— Abram S. Orr. 
1856 — James Robinson. ' 

1856-1858— Robert H. Henderson. 
1858-1869— James S. Buchanan. 
1869-1870— Lavinia M. Ryburn. 
1870-1872— Ann S. Cook. 
1872-1873— Roger Sullivan. 
1873-1874— Hiram V. Thompson. 
1874-1885— John C. O'Rear. 



Washington County, 1177-1870. G91 

1885-1889— Kobort S. Cunningham. 
1889-1894— John Faris. 
1894-1898— Joseph D. Williams. 
1898-1900— John R. Hendricks. 

Me^\dow View. 

This is a tliriving village about seven miles east of Abingdon, 
on the Norfolk and Western railwa}', and is experiencing a rapid 
growth at the present time, having several large and thriving 
stores, several beautiful churches and a number of very thrifty 
people for citizens. 

The name of this village was suggested by the location (for- 
merly "Edmondson's Meadows"). 

Wyndale. 

For many years this village was known as Montgomery's Switch, 
the depot having been located on the lands of S. W. Montgomery, 
but several years ago the name of the railroad station, but not 
the postoffice, was changed to Wyndale by the authorities of the 
Norfolk and Western railway. 

This village has experienced some growth within recent years. 

Wallace's Switch. 

When the railroad reached this point in the year 1856, Major 
Goforth was the owner of the milj. at that point, and at his in- 
stance the citizens of the community petitioned the railroad for 
a station, and the station was established and called Goforth's, 
but the name was shortly clianged to Wallace's Switch in honor 
of the Rev. W. P. Wallace, a Presbyterian minister who lived in 
that community. The growth and prosperity of this town has 
been greatly retarded in recent years by the rapid growth and de- 
velopment of Bristol, which is in close proximity thereto. 

This town has several good business houses and churches and 
an excellent flouring mill, owned by Dr. W. M. Phillips. 

Mendota. 

Mendota is situated on the North Fork of Holston river op- 
posite the noted Kinderliook farm and immediately on the Vir- 
ginia and Southwestern railroad. 

The excellent river-bottom lands opposite Mendota were pat- 
ented by the Comnaonwealth to Thomas Kendrick, William Todd 



692 Southwest Virginia, lUtG-llSG. 

Livingston and others, and the home of Peter Livingston was but 
a short distance below Mendota at the time the noted half-breed 
Benge made his raid thereon in the year 1794. 

The river-bottom land opposite Mendota, some time previous to 
1860, became the property of Adam Hickmen, a native of Kinder- 
hook, N. Y. Upon his acquisition of this property, he gave 
it the name of Kinderhook, and from this farm _ Kinderhook 
magisterial district derived its name. 

The postoffice at this point was for many years Kinderhook, 
but some years ago the name was changed to Mendota by Henry 
C. Holly, who for many years merchandised at that place. 

A number of thriving business houses and pretty residences 
are to be found at this place, and several physicians and one law- 
yer reside in the town. 

Hamilton Institute was established at Mendota in the year 
1874, and has continued from that time to be the resort of the 
ambitions youth, both male and female, of that section of this 
county. At present its prosperity is fairly good. 

Several efforts have been made in recent years to organize a 
new county out of parts of the counties of Scott, Washington and 
Eussell, and Mendota has been the only place suggested as the 
county seat of the proposed new county. 

Damascus. 

When the Abingdon Coal and Iron Eailroad Company was first 
suggested, and for some years thereafter, the location of this town 
and the postoffice at this place were known as Mock's Mills and 
remained so imtil about the year 1892; when the postoffice was 
changed to Damascus at the instance of General J. D. Imboden, 
who at that time was very much interested in the welfare of the 
community. 

It has been suggested that the name of Damascus was given to 
this locality because of a fancied resemblance to Damascus in Pales- 
tine, near the scene of the conversion of St. Paul. 

The location of this town was laid off into streets by the year 
1892, and the plans of a magnificent hotel and numerous business 
enterprises were projected; but the crisis came soon thereafter, 
and all growth and progress ceased until about the year 1897. 

In the meantime business had revived, and the property of the 
Abingdon Coal and Iron Eailroad Company became the property 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 693 

of the Virginia and Carolina Eailway Company, of which W. E. 
Mingea, of Eoanoke, was president, and the railroad had been 
completed to Damascus. 

The first train carrying passengers reached Damascus on the 
7th day of February, 1900, and at that time the building of the 
Beaver Dam railroad from Damascus to Crandaill, Tennessee, was 
b'eing rapidly pushed to completion, and every preparation was 
being made for a rapid development of the magniflcient water- 
power, mineral deposits and immense forests of splendid timber 
found in the immediate vicinit}^ of Damascus. 

Since that time the Beaver Dam railroad has been completed, 
and the Virginia and Carolina Eailway Company has been ex- 
tended some distance up Laurel Fork of Holston river in the di- 
rection of N"orth Carolina. A large tannery, extract plant, an 
extensive sash, door and blind factory and numerous saw mills 
carried on by hundreds of hands are at work in and around Da- 
mascus at the present time. The town itself has experienced a 
very rapid growth, and to-day boasts of several churches, a splen- 
did public school building, a number of prosperous mercantile 
establishments, one physician, Dr. Fortune, one real estate agent, 
B. F, Fortune, a bank and many thrifty citizens. 

Greendale. 

Greendale is situated six miles northwest of Abingdon on the 
Eussell turnpike, in the Eich Valley. The name of this town 
was suggested by the location, and the town boasts of an excellent 
high school, several stores, two mills, several churches and many 
good citizens. 

Boundaries of Washington County. 

The boundaries of Washington county, with the exception of 
the southern boundary, between this county and the State of Ten- 
nessee, formerly the State of Nortli Carolina, have been fully 
given at other places in this history, and as to them there has been 
no serious controversy. 

The southern boundary of Virginia, extending from Steep Eock 
creek, now the Laurel Fork of Holston river, to Cumberland Gap, 
has been the subject of controversy since the coming of the first 
settlers to this portion of Virginia, and, therefore, it is deemed 
proper that a hisixjiy of this coutroversy should be preserved. 



694 Southwest Virgima, 17J,6-17S6. 

The first charter of Virginia was granted by King James in 
the year 1606 to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Soraers, Eichard 
Hackliiit, Edward Maria Wingfiekl, Thomas Hanham, Robert Gil- 
bert, William Parker and George Popham, and embraced all the 
lands lying and being all along the sea coast between 34° of north 
latitude from the equinoctial line, and 45° degrees of the same 
latitude, and in the main land between the same 34 and 45 degrees 
of latitude and the islands thereunto adjacent or within one hun- 
dred miles of the coast thereof. 

The second charter of Virginia was granted by King James in 
the year 1009 to' the treasurer and company of adventurers and 
planters of the city of London for the first Colony of Virginia. 

The territor}^ thus granted was described as follows : "All those 
lands, countries and territories situate, lying and being in that 
part of America called Virginia, from the point of land called 
Cape or Point Comfort all along the sea coast to the northward 
two hundred miles, and from the said point of Cape of Comfort 
all along the sea coast to the southward two hundred miles, and 
all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea coast of the 
precinct aforesaid up into the lands throughout from sea to sea 
west and north west, and also^ all the islands lying within one hun- 
dred miles along the coast of both seas of the precinct aforesaid. 

"In the year 1663, Charles II., King of England, granted a 
charter to Edward, Earl Clarendon, George, Duke of Albemarle, 
William, Lord Craven, John, Lord Berkley, Anthony, Lord Ash- 
ley, Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkley and Sir John Col- 
leton, of all that territory or tract of ground situated, lying and 
being within our dominions ol America, extending from the north 
end of Lucke Island, which lyeth in the southern Virginia seas 
and within six and thirty degi-ees of the northern latitude, and 
to the west as far as the South seas, and so southerly as far as the 
river St. Mathias, which bordereth upon the coast of Florida and 
within one and thirty degrees of northern latitude, and so west in 
a direct line as far as the South seas aforasaid." 

A second charter was granted by King Charles II. in the year 
1665 to the same persons, and by this charter the northern boun- 
dary of Caroline Avas fixed at 36° and 30 minutes north latitude 
and so west in a direct line to the South seas. 

Considerable difficulty was experienced by the two colonies in 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 695 

agreeing upon the true location of this line previously to the year 
1770, but, notwithstanding these difficulties, the line was extended 
as far west as Steep Eock creek, now Beaver Dam creek, 
in this county, by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, commissioners 
u]>on the part of Virginia, and Daniel Weldon and William Chur- 
ton, commissioners on the part of !N"orth Carolina. 

It will be observed that tlie lands included in the Carolina 
charter had been previously granted by King James to the treas- 
urer and company of adventurers and planters of the city of Lon- 
don for the first Colony in Virginia, and a similar condition ex- 
isted as to the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

When the delegates and representatives from the several coun- 
ties in Virginia met in Williamsburg and adopted a Constitution 
for the Commonwealth on the 5th day of May, 1776, section 21 
of that Constitution contained the following provision : 

"The territories contained within the Charters, erecting the 
Colonies of ]\Iaryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, 
are hereby ceded, released and forever confirmed to the people of 
these colonies respectively, with all the rights of property, juris- 
diction and government, and all other rights whatsoever, which 
might, at time heretofore, have been claimed by Virginia, except 
the free navigation and use of the rivers Patomoque and Poke- 
moke, with the property of the Virginia shores and strands, bor- 
dering on either of the said rivers, and all improvements which 
have been or shall be made thereon. The Western and Northern 
extent of Virginia shall in all respects stand as fixed by the Char- 
ter of King James I., in the year one thousand six hundred and 
nine, and by the public treaty of peace between the courts of 
Britain and France, jn the year one thousand seven hundred and 
sixty-three; unless, by Act of this Legislature; one or more gov- 
ernments be established westward of the Allegliany mountains. 
And no purchases of lands shall be made of the Indian natives, 
but on behalf of the Public by authority of tlie General Assembly." 

Thus Virginia disposed of all her rights in and to the large ter- 
ritory included within the State of North Carolina. 

By this time the lands west of the mountains and extending 
far into the present State of Tennessee were being rapidly settled, 
and disputes were frequent and oftentimes resulted in violence. 

The first controversv as to the true location of this line in this 



696 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

section of Virginia arose out of the election held for members of 
the House of Delegates from Washington county, in the spring 
of the year 177,7. 

The right of Anthony Bledsoe and William Cocke, the delegates 
receiving the majority of votes in that election, was contested by 
Arthur Campbell and William Edmiston, the principal ground of 
their contest being that Bledsoe and Cocke were elected by citizens 
living in North Carolina. 

The contention of Campbell and Edmiston was not sustained, 
and the citizens living as far down as the Long Island of Holston 
were accepted as legal voters in said election. 

In the following year Arthur Campbell and Anthony Bledsoe 
were elected to represent this county in the House of Delegates 
of Virginia and, upon the assembling of the General Assembly, 
Anthony Bledsoe presented a bill for extending the boundary line 
between Virginia and North Carolina, which bill became a law at 
the same session of the General Assembly. 

The bill as thus passed was as follows : 

Whereas, the inliabitants of this conmionwealth and those of 
the State of North Carolina have settled themselves farther west- 
ward than the boundary betv\^een the said two states hath hitherto 
been extended, and it becomes expedient in order to prevent dis- 
putes among such settlers, that the same should be now farther 
extended and marked. Be it therefore enacted by the General As- 
sembly, that two commissioners sliall be appointed by joint ballot 
of both houses of assembly, who shall have authority to meet with 
others to be appointed on the part of said State of North Caro- 
lina, and proceed to extend and mark the line between this Com- 
monwealth and the State of North Carolina, beginning where 
Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, commissioners from Virginia, 
together with others from North Carolina, formerly appointed to 
run the said line, ended their work, and, if that be found to be 
truly in the latitude of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes nortJi, 
then to run from thence due west to Tenasee river, or, if it be 
found not truly in the said latitude, then to run from the said 
place due north or south into said latitude, and thence due west to 
the said Tenasee river, correcting the said course at due intervals 
by astronomical observations. If either of the commissioners so 
to be appointed shall decline or be unable to go through the duties 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 697 

of his appomfanent, the governor and council shall appoint some 
other to act in his stead; The said commissioners shall nominate 
such skillful surveyor to execute their directions and such other 
attendants as shall be necessary, and shall endeavor to procure the 
most accurate instruments, which, if injured in said service, shall 
be made good at the public expense, or wholly paid for, at the 
election of the proprietor, if borroM^ed from an individual, or of 
any such other person or persons, as shall have authority to make 
such election, if borrowed from any seminary of learning. Each 
commissioner shall be allowed for his trouble herein fifty shillings 
per day for every day he shall attend. Each surveyor with the 
chain carriers and other attendants, shall be allowed such sums as 
the commissioners shall certify they respectively ought to receive 
and be paid by the treasurer of this commonwealth out of any 
publick money in his hands, together with the allowance to the 
commissioners as aforesaid ; and the said commissioners are hereby 
directed to make a report of their proceedings to the general as- 
sembly. 

And whereas, from the hostile disposition of the Indian na- 
tions, it may be unsafe for the commissioners and attendants to 
proceed on the business hereby directed, without a sufficient guard 
to protect them. Be it further enacted. That the governor, with 
the advice of the council, sliall, on application of the commission- 
ers so appointed direct and order a sufficient number of officers 
and men to be raised for that purpose, by voluntary enlistment, or 
if that cannot be done, then to be furnished from the militia of 
such counties as shall be convenient, to attend the said commis- 
sioners as a guard, and, for their safe conduct in the prosecution 
of the business by this act directed shall order them a sufficient 
number of tents and camp utensils, and shall apjwint a commis- 
sary to furnish necessary provisions during the time they shall 
be employed for the purpose aforesaid; which commissary shall, 
previously to his entering on the execution of his office, give bond 
with sufficient security for the faithful performance of his duty, 
and shall receive for his services such allowance as is given to 
other commissaries of this comnionwealth. 

In the year 1770, the Legislature of North Carolina concurred 
in the action of the Legishihiro of Virginia and passijd ilic fol- 
lowing Act: , 

"Whereas, the iiiliabitants of tliis State and those of tiie coni- 



698 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

monwealth of Virginia, have settled themselves farther west- 
wardly than the boundary between the said two States hath 
hitherto been extended; and it becomes expedient in order to pre- 
vent disputes among such settlers, that the same shall be further 
extended and marked. 2 Be it therefore enacted, &c., that Oroon- 
dates Davis, John Williams (Caswell), James Kerr, William 
Bailey Smith and Eichard Henderson, or any three of them, be 
and they are hereby appointed commissioners with full power and 
authority to meet with other commissioners from the common- 
wealth of Virginia, and to proceed to extend and mark the line 
between that commonwealth and this State, beginning where 
Joshua Frye and Peter Jefferson, commissioners on the part of 
Virginia, together with Daniel Weldon and William Churton, from 
Korth Carolina, formerly appointed to run the said line, ended 
their work; and if that be found to be truly in the latitude of 
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north then to run from thence 
due west to Tennessee or the Ohio river ; or if it be found not truly 
in said latitude, then to run from the said place due north or due 
south, in the said latitude, and thence due west to the said Ten- 
nessee or Ohio river; correcting the said course at due intervals 
by astronomical observations. If either of the commissioners by 
this act appointed shall d*ecline, or be unable to go through the 
duties of his appointment, the Governor and Council shall appoint 
some other to act in his stead. 

And the said commissioners are hereby directed to make report 
of their proceedings to the General Assembly"* 

The Governor of Virginia, pursuant to the authority vested in 
him, directed Thomas Sharp and a company of militia to act as 
guard to the commissioners while running the boundary line as 
directed, and designated Anthony Bledsoe to act as commissary 
to the commissioners and the guard while rimning said line. 

The Governor of Virginia, pursuant to the authority vested in 
him, appointed Dr. Thomas W^alker and Daniel Smith commis- 
sioners upon the part of Virginia, and the Virginia commissioners, 
in the summer of 1779, met the jSTorth Carolina commissioners 
at Steep Eock creek, and proceeded to discharge the duties di- 
rected by the General Assemblies of the two States. 

As to what occurred at this time and upon this undertaking, the 



n^evised Statutes of N. C, Vol. II., page 82. 



Washington County, 1177-1870. 699 

report of Dr. Walker and Daniel Smith is the best evidence, and 
is here given : 

To the Honorable, the Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of 

Delegates: 

"In obedience to an act of tlie assembly entitled "An act for 
extending the boundary line between Virginia and North Caro- 
lina.'^ 

We, the subscribers, proceeded to run the said Line. 

The gentlemen from North Carolina did not meet us so soon as 
had been agreed; and after they came many accidents happened 
which protracted the business. The place where Messrs. Fry and 
Jefferson ended their line, on Steep Eock creek, could not be 
found, owing, we suppose, to so' much of the timber thereabout 
being since dead ! We proceeded to observation in order to fix 
upon the spot on Steep Eock creek, where we should begin. On 
Monday, 6th September, 1779, having agreed with the Carolina 
gentlemen in Observation, the following ]\Iemorandums were en- 
tered on their Journal as well as ours, as proper preliminaries 
agreed upon, necessary for fixing this line. Viz. "That the Sun's 
Meridian Altitude was this day fifty-nine degrees fifty-two 
minutes — ^that this place of observation was one minute and 
twenty-five seconds north of the proper latitude, or one mile, two 
hundred and one poles and a half — That at Steep Eock we were 
in superficial measure 329 miles West of Currituck Inlet: That 
there should be an abatement of twelve miles for mountainous 
and uneven ground, or that we were 317 miles or five degrees and 
forty-two minutes west of Currituck Inlet; That a degree of longi- 
tude in this latitude is 48.23 geographic miles, or of statute miles 
55 and 1,083 yards. That Currituck Inlet was in 75 'degrees 30 
minutes west Longitude, this being the average of three differ- 
ent accounts, and of course that the Longitude we were then in 
was 81 degrees 12 minutes west of London. We measured off the 
one mile and 2011/) poles a due south course, and the beginning 
of the line was thus fixed to the satisfaction of all. We should 
not have troubled you with tlic^se particulars, but for some subse- 
quent events which make us think it our duty. After running 
the line as far as Carter's valley 45 miles west of Steep Eock 
creek, the Carolina gentlemen tlien conceived tlie line Avas further 
South than it ouglit to be, and on trial it was found (lial llio va- 



700 Southwest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 

riation of the needle had altered a little, which must have hap- 
pened very lately, and was owing, w© believe, to our being just 
then near some Iron Ore : because on observing the Sun's Meri- 
dian Altitude the line was not too far South. As the Carolina 
gentlemen, by their Observations, made out otherways, they pro- 
posed that the survej^ors on each side should observe and fix the 
latitude. This was agreed to by one of us, influenced by a knowl- 
edge of a small change of the variation, and was not dissented to 
by the other, as most of the observations on the part of Virginia 
had been made by him. But, quite contrary to our expectations, 
they agreed that we were more than two miles too far South of 
the proper latitude, which distance was measured off directly north 
and the line run eastward from that place superintended by two 
of the Carolina gentlemen, and one of us; while from the same 
place it was continued westwardly, superintended by the others 
for the sake of expediting the business. The instruments proper 
for ascertaining the latitude, were mostly taken back on the east- 
ern part of the line, in order that those who superintended it 
might be farther satisfied ; but after going back more than twenty 
miles, and observing every day on this line, his judgment was un- 
alterably fixed that this line was wrong, although the Carolina 
gentlemen conld not seem to be of this opinion, and he returned 
and overtook his colleague on the AYestern part of the line on 
Blackwater creek or thereabouts, to whom lie imparted his senti- 
ments, proposing that he sliould also observe for some days — 
which he did— The result was that we concluded our first line right, 
and we brought it up accordingly from Carter's valley where it 
had been left and continued on with it to the westward. 

It was (5nce after this proposed by us, and agreed to by the 
Carolina Gentlemen, that as we differed so much in Observation 
we would each run his own. line, encamp as near together as we 
could and let future observers hereafter to be appointed, de- 
termine which was right, which might be done at a small expense. 
But this they afterwards declined, although they carried their line 
as far as Cuml^erland mountain, protesting against our line. 
This protest was received in a letter after we had crossed Cumber- 
land mountain. We continued however as far as Clear fork, being 
123% miles from Steep Eock creek, marking a Poplar and two 
Hackberry trees with initials of our names and with November 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 701 

22, 1779, and had serious thoughts of going no further. But when 
we considered that, perhaps, three-fourths of the whole expense 
was already incurred, that a number of People were settling to 
the Westward, who imagined they were in North Carolina, while 
we thought they were on the lands reserved for our officers and 

soldiers : These and some more of the like considerations, 

made us think it more conducive to the good of tlie State in gen- 
eral that we should keep on, than that we should return. But as 
the season was far advanced and the Coimtry before us, as far as 
it was known, was very mountainous and barren, not yielding a 
sufficient quantity of Cane for our pack horses, which for some 
time had been their principal support: these, among other reasons, 
made us judge it best to leave off running the line here, and go 
farther to the westward, into a better Country, where, by reason 
of many people being about to settle, it might be of importance 
to run the line speedily. The map will show our route to a place 
on Cumberland Eiver, where we built canoes to carry our luggage 
and rest the pack horses, which were too much reduced to do ser- 
vice that way. And here, to add to the number of our difficulties 
and misfortunes, we were frozen up more than forty days in a river 
never known to be frozen before. We went by water from this 
place until we got into the proper latitude (as we judge one him- 
dred and nine miles west of Clear Fork) and began the line on 
two Beech trees marked with our names and Feb'y 25, 1780, on the 
West bank of Cumberland Eiver, a creek coming in about a mile 
above us on the West side, and another one somewhat smaller 
about half a mile below us on the East side. From this place we 
extended the line across the heads of Green Eiver and Eed river, 
through a country called the Barrens, from there being little or 
no timber in it, in many ])laces, crossed the Cumberland again at 
131 miles, where t^iere is a cliff on the Northeast side, and a bot- 
tom about three quarters of a mile broad on the other side, and at 
the end of one hundred and forty miles, one quarter and eight 
poles from the two Beech trees, on the 23rd day of March found 
ourselves on the Bank of tlie Tennessee Eiver, and of course had 
run the line as far westward as we were authorized to do, not- 
withstanding the hardships and difficulties we had to contend 
with — One of us kept through the woods with the surveyor while 
the other went down by water, by which means a toIeral)le map of 



702 Southwest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 

the Cumbeiiaud Eiver is taken, a line river, being navigable at 
least 700 miles from the mouth upwards. When we had returned 
homewards about IGO miles we met with orders from his Excel- 
lency the Governor to do another piece of service, which we sup- 
pose he has made you acquainted with. 

"We have also since seen Col. Henderson, one of the North 
Carolina commissioners who with another of his Colleagues has 
been examining our line, and he has repeatedly given us more 
reason to believe their state will establish the line as we ran it. 

'•Thomas Walker. 
"Daniel Smith.'' 

This report of the Virginia commissioners accompanied the 
Governor's communication tO' the Virginia House of Delegates in 
the year 1780, and was received by the Legislature and ratified, 
and, at the same time, Anthony Bledsoe, who had acted as com- 
missary to the commissioners, and Thomas Sharp and his com- 
pany of militia, who had acted as guard to the commissioners, 
were allowed compensation for their expenses^ etc. 

If Richard Henderson and his associates made a report to the 
General Assembly of North Carolina, I have not been able to ob- 
tain it. The disorder that prevailed upon the failure of the com- 
missioners to agree was alarming. The criminals of the country 
found a place of security between the lines as run by Walker and 
Henderson, and the people living between said lines refused to- 
pay taxes or perform military services in either State. 

Tlie Virginia Legislature, on the Oth of June, 17<S1, adopted 
the following resolutions : 

"Resolved, that it is the oi)inion of this committee that another 
and more pointed rei)resentation may be made to the General As- 
sembly of North Carolina, in support of the title of the citizens 
of Virginia as w^ell as the title of others, circumstanced as they 
are, to lands which, previous to the lat'e extension of the boundary 
line between this State and that of North Carolina were supposed 
to be in this commonwealth, but since have been proved to lie in 
the said State of North Carolina. 

"Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that such other 
parts of the said memorial as pray that a public agent may be ap- 
pointed to present the same to the General Assembly of said State 
of North Carolina, and receive their final answer thereupon, are 



Was/iiinjhni Coiiiili/. 1777-IS70. T03 

reasonable and thai the Governor, with the advice of the Council, be 
authorized and required to ajjpoint such an agent." 

And on the 15th of December, 1783, when the situation was pre- 
carious indeed, the General Assembly of Virginia adopted the fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

"Bcsolvcd, That the Governor, with the advice of his Council, 
be autJiorized and required to propose to the State of North Caro- 
lina, either to confirm the boundar}^ line extended b}^ the Virginia 
commissioners between the States of Virginia and JSTorth. Caro- 
lina, or to choose able commissioners from some other of the 
United States, who shall begin where Joshua Fry and Peter Jef- 
ferson, commissioners from Virginia, together with others from 
North Carolina, formerly appointed to run the same line, ended 
their work: And if the termination of the old line be found truly 
in the latitude of thirty-six degTces 30' north, to extend the same 
to the river ]\Iississip])i. and should the termination of the old 
line not be truly in the latitude aforesaid, then to run from thence 
due north or south to the same, and from thence due west to the 
river Mississip])i ; and that all necessary expenses incurred in car- 
rying this resolution into execution, be paid out of any money in 
the hands of the treasurer, not otherwise appropriated."* 

But the General Assembly ol North Carolina, for some reason, 
delayed action as to the confirmation of the Walker line until the 
year 1789. In the meantime the authorities of Washington 
county were exercising all their energies in keeping the peace and 
preserving order in the disputed territory. 

Colonel Arthur Cam])l)('ll. the county lieutenant of Washing- 
ton coitnty, in answoi; to an inipiiry, addressed the following letter 
to the Governor of Virginia in the year 1787: 

"Sir, — If I recollect right, al>out the year 1749, the boundary 
line betwixt Virginia and N. Carolina was extended by Col. Fry 
and Jefferson as far west as a place called Steep Rock creek, since 
known by the name of Laurel Fork of the Holston River. This 
line being extended on the true latitude by commissioners on both 
sides, and mutually agreed to was returned and recorded in Public 
Offices in both States. 

"In 1779, tlio Commissioners, 'I'liouias Walker and Daniel 
Smith, on the pait, of Virginia, and. Uichard Henderson and 



'Journal House of Delegates, 1781. 



704 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

James Smith on the part of North Carolina, met at the place 
Avhore Fry and Jefferson left off, and, after spending many days in 
making observations, agreed to continue Fry and Jefferson's line 
as the trne, or at least nearest the true latitude. Both parties pro- 
ceeded amicably about 40 miles, until they crossed the north fork 
of Holston, near the Great Island. By this time the Pilots and 
Hunters gave it as their opinion that both Cumberland Gap and 
the settlement on CumlDcrland Eiver, at the French Lick, would 
both fall into Virginia. A halt was made and several days passed 
in making observations, debating, and even abusing one another. 
Henderson said the line must be run crooked, and insisted on de- 
lay until a parallel at two miles distant, north of the line then 
run, should be extended eastward back, which would prove whether 
the surveyors had lost the latitude and run the line crooked. To 
this Dr. Walker assented, that if the line was found crooked he 
would rectify it. The surveyors ran back accordingly, accom- 
panied by two commissioners, and the line was found equi-distant 
in all parts that was tryed. It was then acknowledged that the 
error did not proceed from the surveyors. Notwithstanding which, 
Henderson proceeded westwardly on the north line and Walker on 
that of the South, it being a due west direction from Steep Eock. 
The Commissioners, when they reached Cumberland mountain 
again, had a meeting and spent many days in taking observations. 
At length Walker proceeded on over the mountain with his line, 
without being accompanied by Henderson, spent the winter in 
the woods and, the next spring, continued the line to the Missis- 
sippi. The Carolina Commissioners left off at Cumberland Moun- 
tain, and when they found that the boundary run by Dr. Walker 
left the French Lick upwards of twenty miles to the South, they 
seemed well satisfied, and it was generally thought that Dr. Wal- 
ker's report would be agreed to and signed by both parties. But, 
from what motive I know not, yet Henderson returned his works 
as run only to the Cumberland Mountain to the Executive of North 
Carolina. And I have been told that the papers have since lain 
dormant, no opinion having been given one way or the other. 

"The People settled between those lines have ever since adhered 
to either State, as Interest, caprice and sometimes very unworthy 
m.otJves dictated, Although the public authoritjr seems, in th(? 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 705 

first instance;, to be blamable^ 3'et the evil amongst the- people is 
increasing, and prudence points out delay as improper." 

In the meantime Daniel Smith had appeared before the General 
Assembly of North Carolina and represented to that body the 
true situation of affairs in the disputed territory, and, as a result, 
the committee to whom the communication from the Virginia 
authoriti'es had been referred, reported to the General Assembly 
of North Carolina at their session in the fall of the year 1789, 
which report is as follows : 

REPOET 

Of the Committee of the Legislature of North Carolina, on Wal- 
ker's Line, at their session at Fayetteville, which began on 
the 2nd. of November and ended on the 22nd. of De- 
cember, 1789. 

Mr. Person, from the committee to Avhom was referred the let- 
ter from his Excellency, the Governor of Virginia, on the subject 
of establishing the boundaries between this State and Virginia, 
reported that it is proposed on the part of Virginia that the line 
commonly called Walker's line be established as the boundary be- 
tween us. Should this proposal not be acceptable to this State, 
they then will appoint commissioners to meet any persons who 
may be appointed on the part of North Carolina, empowered to 
confer on the pT'oprioty of establishing Walker's or Henderson's 
line, and to ro})ort to the Legislature of their respective State 
their proceedings. 

On examining the manner in which those lines were run by the 
commissioners in the year 1780, they find that the commissioners 
began and extended the line together about forty miles, when some 
difference took place and the commissioners on the part of this 
State ran a parallel line two miles north of the other line, for 
about half the distance, and extended the line no farther. Mr.. 
Walker and the other coinniissioners from Virginia extended the 
line to the Tennessee river and marlced its termination on tiie 
Mississippi by observations, leaving the line from tbe Tennessee 
to that place unsurveyed. 

As the difterence between said lines would be only two miles, 
running most of the distance through a mountainous, barren coun- 
try, and as they have great reason to believe, from the information 



70G Southwest Virginia, 17JfG-17S6. 

of Geueral Smith, that the coinnionly called Walker's line is the 
true line, your committee are of the opinion that the object is not 
woxth the expense of sending commissioners to confer on the 
propriety of establishing Henderson's line in preference to that of 
any other and do recommend that a law be passed confirming and 
establishing the line usually called Walker's line as the boundary 
between this State and the State of A^irginia, with a reservation 
in favor of the oldest grants from either State in deciding the 
rights of individual claimants in the tract of country between the 
two lines eoanmonly called Henderson's and Walker's linea. 

This report was not definitely acted upon until the lltli of De- 
cember, 1790, upon which day an Act was passed establishing Wal- 
ker's line as the boundary line between the States, which action of 
tlie General Assembly of Xorth Carolina was immediately com- 
municated to the Governor of Virginia at the fall session, 1791, 
of the General Asseml)Ty of Virginia, and on the .7th day of De- 
cember "the following action was taken by the General Assembly 
of Virginia: 

§ 1. Whereas, official information hath been received by the 
General Assembly that the Legislature of the State of Nortli 
Carolina have resolved to establish the line as the boundary line 
between North Carolina and this Commonwealth, and it is judged 
expedient to confirm and establish the said line on the part of 
this State, be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, that 
the line commonly called and known by the name of Walker's 
line shall be, and the same is hereby declared, to be the boundary 
line of this State. 

§ 2. And be it further enacted. That in all courts of law and 
equity within this Commonwealth, the claims for lands lying be- 
tween the line commonly called Walker's line and the line com- 
monly called Henderson's line shall be decided in favor of tlie 
oldest title, whether derived from this Commonwealth or from 
the State of North Carolina. 

In the meantime tlie State of North Carolina, through her sena- 
tors in the Congress of the United States, had conveyed and ceded 
to the United States of America all of her western possessions, in- 
cluding the territory affected by the disputed line and which ces- 
sion was accepted by the Congress of the United States on the 7th 
day of April, 1790. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 707 

As a result^ the authorities of the southwest territory, now in- 
cluded in the State of Tennessee, denied the right of North Caro- 
lina to act in the premises, and held the action taken to be invalid, 
and asserted their right to the territory lying between the Walker 
and Henderson lines. 

In the spring of the year 1793, the Governor of Virginia, by 
proclamation, asserted the authority of this Commonwealth to the 
lands in dispute, and directed Colonel Arthur Campbell, the 
county lieutenant of this county, to transmit a copy of the law 
and proclamation to William Blount, the Governor of the south- 
west territory, and to Gilbert Christian, the county lieutenant of 
Sullivan county. 

Pursuant to tlie direction of the Governo'r, Colonel Campbell, 
on the 7th of June, 1792, addressed the following letter to Gov- 
ernor Bloimt: 

"Sir, — I enclose you a copy of a law, with a proclamation of the 
Governor of Virginia, by the same conveyance. I am instructed 
to exercise the authority of the State to the boundary, usually 
called Walker's line. In this business, it is the wish of the Execu- 
tive that the subordinate officers conduct themselves in an amica- 
ble manner to the inhabitants over which North Carolina for- 
merly exercised Jurisdiction, and with due respect to the authority 
of the Government south of the Eiver Ohio; these orders are per- 
fectly consonant to my own feelings and sentiments. Therefore, 
Sir, if you have any objections to make to the change taking place, 
or anything to ask in favor of the people, it will be respectfully 
attended to by me and immediately reported to the Governor of 
Virginia. 

"I am Sir, Your most Ob't Serv't, 

"A. Campbell." 

At the same time Colonel Campbell addressed a letter to Gil- 
bert Christian asking information as to the orders given by Gov- 
ernor Blount as to the disputed territory, and in reply received 
the following letter from Gilbert Christian : 

"Dear Sir, — Some days past I received a letter from you, re- 
questing me to inform you whether Governor Blount had given 
special orders to me to draft between Walker's and Henderson's 
lines. Sir, my orders are to draft the men required from the County 
of Sullivan, which I conceived extends from Henderson's line 



708 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

from everything I have Icaown or seen, respecting that matter for 
when the Assembly of North Carolina passed the cession Act, that 
part was claimed by North Carolina, but after they passed the s'd 
cession Act, and at the same Assembly they passed a resolve, giv- 
ing up that part to Virginia with a condition Congi-ess would con- 
sent to it, which has never been done as I know of. I have seen a 
proclamation from the Governor of Virginia, informing the peo- 
ple in those bounds that the Assembly of North Carolina made such 
a Eesolve, and at the next year's Assembly they appointed a com- 
mittee to confirm the s'd Eesolve, which they did. But Congress 
had received the cession Act, before that several months, and 
appointed and commissioned Governor Blount to exercise his au- 
thority over the ceded territory. I cannot see what right North 
Carolina had to say anything about our territory, without our con- 
sent or the consent of Congress, for the Constitution says the peo- 
ple are not to be bound by law, but by their own consent, either by 
themselves or by their Eepresentatives in General Assembly. So, 
Sir, I apprehend the State of Pennsylvania had as great a right 
to have confirmed the aforesaid Eesolve as the State of North 
Carolina. If the Executive of your State had mentioned in the 
Proclamation a confirmation of the Eesolve aforesaid by Congress, 
it might have been considered authentick, but as it is I cannot con- 
ceive it so." 

Upon the receipt of this letter. Colonel Campbell enclosed the 
same to the Governor of Virginia, and addressed the following 
letter to the Governor : 

"Sir, — The enclosed letter from the commanding officer of the 
militia of Sullivan county, seems to be an avowal of an opposition 
to an act of our Legislature, for establishing Walker's line as the 
boundary line to this State. 

"That I conceive it my duty to forward it to your Excellency. 
About half of the inhabitants between the lines seem desirous to 
be governed by the laws of Virginia, but they complain of it as an 
oppression to be harassed by the authority of the Southwest Ter- 
ritory, and to pay obedience to the laws of this State at the same 
time." 

The authorities of the Southwest Territory used every means 
possible to induce the people in the disputed territory to give their 
allegiance to the Southwest Territory. Governor Bloimt published 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 709 

in the KnoxvUle Gazette, on the 10th of March, 1793, a communi- 
cation which purported to give the reasons why the people living 
in the disputed territory should be subject to the authority of the 
territory. The arguments used were exemption from the payment 
of taxes, local convenience and the accessibility of the seat of gov- 
ernment of the Southwest Territory. 

The State of Tennessee was admitted into the Union on the 1st 
day of June, 1796, and the Constitution of the State adopted in 
the same year defines the boundaries of the State as follows : 

"Beginning on the extreme height of the Stone mountain at the 
place where the line of Virginia intersects it in latitude thirty- 
six degrees and thirt}'' minutes north, running thence along the 
extreme height of the said mountain to the place where Watauga 
River breaks through it; thence a direct course to the top of the 
Yellow mountain, where Bright's road crosses the same; thence 
along the ridge of said mountain, between the waters of Doe River 
and the waters of Rock Creek, to the place where the road crosses 
the Iron Mountain; from thence along the extreme height of said 
mountain to the place where Nolichucky River runs through the 
same; thence to the top of Bald Mountain; thence along the ex- 
treme height of said mountain to the Painted Rock, on French 
Broad River; thence along the highest ridge of said mountain to 
the place where it is called the Great Iron or Smoky Mountain; 
thence along the extreme height of said mountain to the place 
where it is called the Unicoi or Unaka Mountain, between the 
Indian towns of Cowoe and Old Chota; thence along the main 
ridge of the said mountain to the southern boundary of this State, 
as described in tlie Act of session of North Carolina to the United 
States of America that all the territory, lands and waters lying 
west of said line, contained in the chartered limits of the State 
of North Carolina, are within the boundaries and limits of this 
State." 

The boundaries of the State of Tennessee as fixed by the Con- 
stitution of 1796 were incorporated in the Constitutions of that 
State, adopted in the years 1834 and 1870. 

It will thus be seen that the Constitution of the State of Tennes- 
see designates their northern line to be in thirty-six degrees and 
thirty minutes north latitude, whei?,, in fact, the line now insisted 



710 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

upon by that State is in latitude 36° 36' 00.94", or 6' 00.94" north 
of the true line. 

Such was the condition of affairs at the beginning of the year 
1800. 

On the 10th of January, 1800, the General Assembly of Virginia 
adopted the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That the Executive be authorized and requested to 
appoint three commissioners, whose duty it shall be to meet com- 
missioners to be appointed by the State of Tennessee, to settle and 
adjust all differences concerning the said boundary line, and 
to establish the one or the other of the said lines, as the 
case may be, or to run any oth'er line which may be agreed on for 
settling the same; and that the Executive also' be requested to 
transmit a copy of this resolution to the Executive authority of 
the State of Tennessee.'' 

The General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, on November 
13, 1801, adopted the following act: 

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennes- 
see, That the Governor, for the time being, is hereby authorized 
and required, as soon as may be convenient after the passing of 
this act, to appoint three commissioners on the part of the State, 
one of whom shall be a mathematician capable of taking the lati- 
tude, who, when so appointed, are hereby authorized and em- 
powered, or a majority of them, to act in conjunction with such 
commissioners as are or may be appointed by the State of Vir- 
ginia, to settle and designate a true line between the aforesaid 
States. 

2. Be it enacted. That there shall be appointed by the authority 
aforesaid one surveyor, who, together with the aforesaid commis- 
sioners, shall each receiee five dollars per day as full compensation 
for their services and expenses whilst they are performing the 
duties enjoined in this act, and there shall also be chosen by the 
commissioners one suitable person as marker of the line afore- 
said, who shall receive two dollars per day in full discharge for 
his services and expenses. 

And whereas, it may be difficult for this Legislature to ascer- 
tain with precision what powers ought of right to be delegated to 
the said commissioners ; therefore, 

3. Be it enacted. That the governor is hereby authorized and re- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 711 

quiredj from time to time, to issue such instructions to the com- 
missioners as he may deem proper for the purpose of carrying into 
effect the object intended by this act consistent with the true 
interest of the State. 

4. Be it enacted, That said commissioners, as soon as may 
be, shall report in writing to the governor foT the time being a 
true statement of all their proceedings relative to the running and 
establishing of the said line, whose duty it shall be to lay the 
same before the succeeding Legislature. 

Pursuant to the authority thus conferred Peter Johnston, Joseph 
Martin and Creed Taylor were appointed commissioners upon 
the part of Virginia, and Moses Fisk, John Sevier and G-eorge 
Eutledge commissioners upon the part of Tennessee to ascertain 
and adjust the boundary line between the two States, while Brice 
Martin and Nathan B. Markland were appointed surveyors to 
run and mark the said line. 

The commissioners thus appointed proceeded to the discharge 
of their duties and completed their labors at the house of William 
Robertson, near Cumberland Gap, on the 8th of December, 1802. 

The commissioners and surveyors thereupon reported their 
action to the General Assembly of the States of Virginia and 
Tennessee. Their report was confirmed and tlie boundary line 
between the States established as reported by an act of the General 
iissembly of Virginia passed on the 22d of January, 1803, which 
act is as follows: 

*'l. Whereas the commissioners appointed to ascertain and ad- 
just the boundary line between this State and the State of Tennes- 
see in conformity to the resolution passed by the Legislature of 
this State for that purpose liave proceeded to the execution oE the 
said business, and made a rej-wrt thereof in the words following, 
to-wit: "The commissioners for ascertaining and adjusting the 
boundary line between the States of Virginia and Tennessee, ap- 
pointed pursuant to public authority on the part of each, namely. 
Genera] Joseph Martin, Creed Taylor and Peter Johnston, for the 
former, and Moses Fisk, General John Sevier and General George 
Eutledge, for the latter, having met at the place previously ap- 
pointed for that purpose and not uniting in the general results of 
their astronomical observations to establish either of the former 
lines, called Walker's and Henderson's, unanimously agreed, in 



712 Southwest Virgi7iia, 171,6-1786. 

order to end all controversy respecting the subject, to run a due 
west line equally distant from both, beginning on the summit of 
the mountain generally known by the name of White Top moun- 
tain,- where the northeastern corner of Tennessee terminates, to 
the top of the Cumberland mountain, where the southwestern 
corner of Virginia terminates, which is hereby declared to be the 
true boundary line between the said States, and has been accord- 
ingly run by Brice Martin and Nathan B. Markland, the sur- 
veyors duly appointed for that purpose, and marked under the 
direction of the said commissioners, as will more at large appear 
by the report of the said surveyors, hereto annexed, and bearing 
equal date herewith. 

"2. The Commissioners doi further unanimously agree, to recom- 
mend to their respective States, that individuals having claims or 
titles to lands on either side of said line, as now fixed and agreed 
upon, and between the lines aforesaid, shall not in consequence 
thereof, in any wise be prejudiced or affected thereby ; and that the 
Legislatures of their respective States, should pass mutual laws 
to render all such claims or titles secure to the owners thereof. 

"3. And the said Commissioners do further unanimously agree 
to recommend to their States respectivel}^, that reciprocal laws 
should be passed, confirming the acts of all public officers, whether 
Magistrates, Sheriffs, coroners, surveyors or constables, between 
the said lines, which would have been legal in either of said States 
had no difference of opinion existed about the true boundary line. 

"4. This agreement shall be of no effect until ratified by the 
Legislatures of the States aforesaid, respectively, and until they 
shall pass mutual laws for the purpose aforesaid. Given under 
our hands and seals at William Robertson's, near Cumberland 
Gap, December the eighth, eighteen hundred and two. 

"Joseph Martin (L. S.) "Moses Fisk (L. S.) 

"John S'evier (L. S.) "Peter Johnston (L. S.) 

"Creed Taylor (L. S.) "George Eutledge (L. S.) 

5. And whereas Brice Martin and Nathan B. Markland, the 
surveyors duly appointed to run and mark the said line, have 
granted their certificate of the execution of their duties, which 
certificate is in the words following, to-wit: "The undersigned 
surveyors, having been duly appointed to run the boundary line 
between the States of Virginia and Tennessee, as directed by tlie 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 713 

commissioners for that purpose, have, agreeably to their orders, 
run the same, beginning on the summit of White Top Mountain, 
at the termination of the northeastern comer of the State of 
Tennessee, a due west course to the top of Cumberland mountain, 
where the southwestern comer of the State of Virginia terminates 
keeping at an equal distance from the line called Walker's and 
Henderson's, and have had the new line run as aforesaid marked 
with five chops in the form of a diamond, as directed by the said 
commissioners. Given under our hands and seals, this eighth day 
of December, eighteen hundred and two. 

"B Martin, (L. S.). Nat. B. Markland, (L. S.)." 

And it is deemed proper and expedient that the said boundary 
line so fixed and ascertained as aforesaid should be established and 
confirmed on the part of this Commonwealth. 

"Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia, That the said boundary line between 
this State and the State of Tennessee, as laid down, fixed and 
ascertained by the said commissioners above named, in their said 
report above recited, shall be, and is hereby fully and absolutely, 
to all intents and purposes whatsoever ratified, established and 
confirmed on the part of this Commonwealth, as the true, certain 
and real boundary line between the said States. 

"7. All claims or titles to lands derived from the government 
of North Carolina or Tennessee, which said lands by the adjust- 
ment and establishment of the line aforesaid, have fallen into this 
State, shall remain as secure to the owners thereof as if derived 
from the government of Virginia, and shall not be in any wise 
prejudiced or affected in consequence of the establishment of 
the said line. 

"<S. The acts of all public officers, whether magistrates, sheriffs, 
coroners, surveyors or constables, heretofore done or performed in 
that portion of territory between the lines called Walker's and 
Henderson's lines, whicli lias fallen into this State by the adjust- 
ment of tlic present line and which would have been Tegal if done 
or performed in the States of North Carolina or Tennessee, are 
hereby recognized and confirmed. 

"9. This act shall commence and be in force, from after the 
passing of a like law on the part of the State of Tennessee." 



714 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

The General Assembly of the State of Tennessee on November 
3, 1803, adopted an act confirming the report of the commission- 
ers establishing the boundary line between the two States and 
confirming the title of all lands lying in the State of Tennessee 
granted by the Commonwealth of Virginia as fully as if said land 
had been granted by the State of Tennessee. 

The act in question is identical with the act of the Virginia 
Assembly before given. 

It was supposed that the boundary line thus established would 
forever settle this question, but by the year 1856 it seems that the 
old controversy was renewed, and in that year the General Assem- 
bly of Virginia passed an act appointing two commissioners to 
meet commissioners appointed by the State of Tennessee to again 
run and mark the boundary line between the States. The General 
Assembly of Tennessee did not take action in this matter until 
the first of March, 1858, on which day an act was passed au- 
thorizing the Governor of the State of Tennessee to appoint two 
commissioners to meet the commissioners appointed by the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia toi re-run and mark the line of 1802, and 
said commissioners were directed to cause monuments of stone to 
be permanently planted on said line where there is now growing 
timber by which the line may be plainly marked, said stones to 
be planted at least one in every five miles. 

The commissioners thus appointed were given full power and 
authority to re-run and mark the line of 1802, and it was made 
their duty to employ a field party to consist of one engineer, one 
surveyor, one back-sighter, one axe-man and such others as were 
necessary, the said engineer and surveyor to be well qualified to 
make said survey upon scientific principles, said commissioners to 
superintend the work. 

The Governor of Virginia appointed James C. Black and 
Leonidas Baugh commissioners upon the part of Virginia, and 
the Governor of Tennessee appointed Samuel Milligan and George 
B. McClelland commissioners upon the part of Tennessee, to run 
and re-mark said line. The commissioners thus appointed began 
work on the 29th of September, 1858, and on the 3d of December, 
185^, submitted their report to the executives of the State of 
Tennessee and the State of Virginia. Their report was in the 
following words and figures, to-wit : 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 715 

"To His Excellency the Governor of Virginia: 

"In obedience to commissions respectively conferred upon us 
imder an act of the legislature of the State of Virginia passed 
the 18th day of March, 1856, and an act of the legislature of the 
State of Tennessee, passed the 1st day of March, 1858, authorizing 
the executives of each of said States respectively to appoint com- 
missioners 'to again run and mark' the boundary line between 
the States of Virginia and Tennessee, we the undersigned com- 
missioners, proceeded to discharge the duties assigned us, and beg 
leave to submit the following as our joint action : Our first object 
was to determine the duty with which we were charged under the 
acts of both states, which we found to be substantially the same 
and both exceedingly vague and indefinite. 

"But the manifest intention of the legislature of Virginia and 
Tennessee was, in our opinion, to ascertain and re-mark the com- 
promise line of 1802, but the laws evidently drafted without a 
knowledge of the facts as we found them to exist, imposed upon 
us obligations which it was practically impossible to comply with, 

"We were required to begin the line 'on the summit of the 
mountain commonly known by the name of the White Top, where 
the northeastern corner of Tennessee terminates' and thence to 
run due west 'to the top of the Cumberland Mountain where the 
southwestern corner of Virginia ends.' This line, by the laws of 
Virginia and Tennessee, was declared to be on the parallel of 
36 30' north latitude, and midway between Walker's and Hender- 
son's lines run in 1779. 

"With these legal restraints upon us, after engaging the services 
of Professor Eevel Keith, an experienced astronomer, and Charles 
S. Williams, a practical engineer, with an efficient field party, we, 
on the 29th day of September, 1858, repaired to the field, but ob- 
servation and experiment soon demonstrated the utter impractica- 
bility of a literal compliance with the requirements of the law. 

"We began the experimental work at the town of Bristol, a small 
village situated on the compromise line of 1802, at a point where 
there was no controversy as to the locality of the line, and our first 
observation at that point showed the latitude to be 36° 36' nearly, 
which upon calculation we found to be a little over six statute 
miles north of the latitude contemplated by law. Fuitlicr obscr- 
vniions and exporimouts nil along the line furnished nearly similar 



716 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

results. In the region of the White Top mountain we met with 
still more insuperable difficulties to a strict compliance with the 
requirements of the law. The summit of this mountain, wliich is 
well defined and elevated above the surrounding mountains, we 
found to be about three miles, a northeast course from the termina- 
tion of the marked timber on the line; and at right angles with 
the parallel 36 30' north latitude, a little over eight miles north 
of said parallel. The northeastern corner of Tennessee was desig- 
nated by no monument, nor was there any evidence on the ground 
by which we could determine the corner or the beginning of the 
compromise line of 1802. 

"The marks on the timber which were found throughout the 
whole line ceased on a spur of a dividing range of mountains that 
connects the Stone, Pond and White Top mountains called the 
'Divide' from the fact that the waters flow from it both east and 
west, and about one mile from the summit of this dividing range. 

"At the point where the marks on the line of 1802 terminate 
there is no marked corner or any change in appearance of the 
marks on the timber indicating a purpose to establish a corner or 
beginning point of the line, nor is there any marked timber between 
that point and the summit of the 'Divide,' although thickly 
wooded, except on the summit, where it appears to have been cleared 
twenty or twenty-five years ago and is now under cultivation. 

"Under this perplexing state of facts we were neither able to 
comply strictly with the requirements of the law or definitely to 
settle the 'northeastern corner of Tennessee,' or to establish the 
beginning point of the line we were required to trace. 

"The Virginia commissioners insisted that the line should be 
extended east from the end of the marked line on the little moun- 
tain south of the Denton Valley to the top of the 'Divide,' because 
it would bo but a continuation of the line from Cumberland Gap, 
which is to that point about midway between Walker's and Hen- 
derson's lines, and because the existence of a cross line nmning 
south 22° west was not even known, or the line from the top of 
the little mountain westward to the river heretofore recognized as 
Ihe boundary, or any part of it. 

"And the Tennessee commissioners, that the northern line as 
connected by the cross line with the southern should be extended to 
the 'summit of the Divide,' and the northeastern comer of Tennes- 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 717 

see there established, because it is the only unbroken and con- 
tinuously marked line ascertained, and the summit of the 'Divide' 
presents the only natural monument that reasonably conforms tO' 
the commissioners' purpose to establish one at the end of the 
marks on the line. No conclusive agreement could be made, and 
we were compelled to leave the point of beginning an open ques- 
tion. 

"After making these and various other experiments calculated 
to determine the cliaracter of the line and its offsets, and taking 
tlie latitude at different points between Bristol and White Top 
mountain, and also at Cumberland Gap in the fall of 1858, w© 
found from the inclemency of the weather and the advanced 
season, that it would be manifestly to the interest of both States 
to suspend operations until the following summer, when the season 
would be more propitious for the progress of the work. 

"On the 7th day of June, 1859, we again, with our 'Surveyor 
and field part}',' assembled at Bristol, and after determining to re- 
trace and remark the compromise line of 1802, we resumed the 
work and accurately ran, re-marked and measured the old line of 
1802 with all of its offsets and irregularities, as shown in the sur- 
veyor's report herein incorporated and on the accompanying map 
herewith submitted. 

SURVEYOE'S EEPOET. 

To Leonidas Baugh and James C. Black, of Virginia, and Samuel 
Milligan and George B. McClelland, of Tennessee, commission- 
ers for running and re-marTcing the boundary line between their 
respective States: 

Gentlemen, — Herewith I submit a map of the boundary line 
between the States of Virginia and Tennessee, as traced and re- 
marked by the field party in my charge under your direction. 

After a thorough search through the country in the vicinity of 
the mountain "commonly known as White Top," the line marked 
by the commissioners of 1802 was found marked upon a northern 
spur of the ridge known as the "Divide." 

This ridge divides the waters flowing into New Eiver on the 
east from those flowing into Holston Eiver on the west. The 
point where the line was found is about a mile northwestwardly 
from the residence of Mr. Wells Blevins, upon the "Divide" and 
about three miles southwesterly from the summit of White Top. 



•^18 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Although diligent search was made, no trace of a line was found 
east of this point, neither, on the other hand, was there the least 
indication of a corner, the line being marked as elsewhere. Traced 
westerly to Denton's Valley the line varies, generally one and 
one-half (1%) degrees north from a truly west course as found 
by astronomical observation. In Denton's valley an offset was 
found, the line bearing south 22 west (by the needle), for a dis- 
tance of 8,700 feet, to a point upon a high spur of the little moun- 
tain immediately west of Mill Creek. Prom the southern ter- 
minus of this offset the line runs upon a course very closely ap- 
proximating due west to a point in the eastern boundary line of 
the to Mai of Bristol, Avhere a small variation was found. The line 
was so adjusted, however, as to coincide with the central line of the 
main street of Bristol, the magnetic course being south 89° 40' 
west, and so continued to the west branch of Beaver Creek, 

From Bristol west to Cumberland Gap, the line generally pre- 
serves a due west course, as determined by astronomical observa- 
tions, with the following exceptions : 

1. On the farm of John Hickman, west of Bristol, the line 
varies to North 821^ west (magnetic course), for a distance of 
31'0 feet. 

2. At the crossing of Wallen's ridge, where an offset of 1,457 
feet occurs, which was connected by an oblique line, as shown on 
the map. 

3. Near Cumberland Gap, where the direction of the line varies 
to north 88 west (magnetic course) for a distance of 6,922 feet. 

The line was found plainly marked where the timber remained 
standing, was readily found through most of its course and is 
subject to minor deviations incidental to long compass lines, gen- 
erally, however, preserving a due west course. 

The standing timber along the line was marked in five chops 
in the form of : 



The total length of line as run and remeasured with a level 
chain is 113 miles. 

Eespectfully submitted. 

Charles S. Williams^ 
Surveyor Boundary Commissioner. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 719 

The territory in the form of a triangle, lying between the top 
of Little mountain and the red lines on the map in what is known 
as "Denton's Valley/' has heretofore been recognized by the citi- 
zens residing therein as included in the State of Virginia, and the 
top of Little moirntain is recognized as the boimdary line. To' this 
supposed boundary both States have heretofore exercised jurisdic- 
tion, and north of the summit of the mountain the citizens resid- 
ing in the triangle have derived their land titles from the State of 
Virginia; they have there voted, been taxed, and exercised all the 
rights of citizens of that State. The line, though plainly marked 
from the top of Little mountain westward nearly to the river, and 
the cross line at Denton's Valley running south twenty-two west 
and connecting th'e north and south lines, seem not to have been 
recognized as the boundary line, the very existence even of the 
cross line being unkno-^vn imtil we discovered it; but it is also well 
defined and so distinctly marked as to leave no doubt that it was 
run and marked in 1802. With this single exception, the line as 
traced by us has been, as far as we are able to ascertain, recognized 
throughout its entire length for fifty-seven years as the true boun- 
dary line between the States of Virginia and Tennessee. The lati- 
tude, as m.arked on the map east of Bristol and at Cumberland Gap, 
was carefully determined by Professor Keith with a "zenith tran- 
sit" or transit instrument, the most modern and improved astro- 
nomical instrument now in use, and may be relied upon as per- 
fectly accurate, except at Bristol, and that was ascertained under 
disadvantageous circumstances, but it is believed to be nearly cor- 
rect. West of Bristol, except at Cumberland Gap, the latitude was 
determined by Lieutenant Francis T. Byan, of the corps of United 
States topographical engineers, with a "sextant," and may also be 
relied upon as correctly determined. 

The line was traced with a "theodolite," and great care observed 
throughout correctly to ascertain its true bearing, offsets and ir- 
regularities. We found the old line marked with "five chops in the 
form of a diamond," and we varied ours by using only four chops, 
and placed them on the tree somewhat in the form of the letters 
wye: \/ as shown in the surveyor's report. The fore and aft 
marks were placed truly on the line, and the side marks were placed 
respectively on that portion of the timber next the true line. 
Where we found no growing timber we caused monuments of stone 



720 Southwest Virginia, 17Jt6-1786. 

to be erected, "firmly planted" one foot and a half in the ground 
and extending two and a half feet above the ground, well dressed 
and marked on the north side with the letter V, and the south 
side with the letter T, so that the line may be readily identified 
throughout its entire length. 

At Cumberland Gap the line terminated on a chestnut oak on the 
summit of a mountain, at which there is also marked a monument 
of stone. At the eastern end of the line where the marked timber 
ceases we placed a monument of stone, but we put no inscription 
upon it, indicating that point to be the "northeastern corner of 
Tennessee" for the reason hereinbefore assigned. We deem it pro- 
per further to state that we have indicated on the map at different 
points the reputed locality of the Walker line, but we found no 
marked timber indicating its position, except at the western end 
of the line, which we have truly represented on the map. We saw 
no trace of the Henderson line at any point, and consequently were 
unable accurately to represent its position on the map. Its reputed 
position is represented on the map at a point near Bristol. We 
further beg leave to state that the general course of the line lies 
over a rough and mountainous country, almost inaccessible, es- 
pecially the eastern portion of it, and its survey was attended with 
an amount of labor and privation which we are sure no one can 
justly appreciate but those who have actually undergone them. 
But we felt justified in stating that we spared nO' pains or labor 
accurately to trace and mark the line, as well as to show the true 
state of facts that surround it, that the legislatures, both of Ten- 
nessee and Virginia, can act understand ingly in ratifying or re- 
jecting it, as in their wisdom they may think right and proper. 
All of which is most respectfully submitted. 

Sam Milligan^ 
George E. McClellan^ 
Tennessee Commissioners. 

Leonidas Baugh^ 
James C. Black, 

Virginia Commissioners. 
December 30, 1859. 

This report was disapproved and rejected by the General As- 
sembly of Virginia on the 9th of March, 1860, and the Governor 
of the Commonwealth was authorized and directed to settle with 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 721 

Baugli and Black for services rendered, and to appoint one or more 
commissioners to run again and re-mark the line between Virginia 
and Tennessee in strict conformity with the compact of 1802. 

The result of this effort to run and re-mark the line of 1802 
having failed, the entire question was again open for discussion 
and controversy. 

In the year 1869, the superintendent of the United States Coast 
Survey directed Eichard B. Cutts to proceed to Bristol, with in- 
structions to observe the solar eclipse on August 7th, and to con- 
nect the station at Bristol with one or more of the monuments 
which mark the boundary line in that vicinity. Pursuant to in- 
structions, Mr. Cutts proceeded to Bristol, and, after having dis- 
charged his duties, made the following report to his superior. 

"Washington^ D. C, 
"December 30th, 1869. 

"Profr. Benj'n Pierce, Sup't. U. 8. Coast Survey: 

"Sir, — In your letter of instructions to observe the Solar Eclipse 
of August 7tli, at or near Bristol, Tenn., you also directed me to 
comply, if practicable, with the request made by the President of 
Washington College, Virginia, to connect the station at Bristol, 
the position of which would be astronomically determined, with 
one or more of the monuments which mark the boundary line of 
the State of Virginia in that vicinity, so that the longitude and 
latitude thereof may be accurately known. 

"Ascertaining soon after my arrival at Bristol that the connec- 
tion could be readily made, the work was undertaken and com- 
pleted without interfering with the regular duties assigned to the 
party. Signals, which were visible from the astronomical station, 
were erected on the boundary, or main street separating Goodson 
in Virginia from Bristol in Tennessee, and the connection effected 
by means of a measured base and triangulation. In view of the 
fact, however, that the signals, or monuments, were placed on a 
line which, though recognized as the boundary between Virginia 
and Tennessee, has not been, in the opinion of many, definitely set- 
tled as such, and as the results of the observations and triangula- 
tion, made under my direction, may be used as authority in the 
discussion of the question should it again arise, I beg leave to show 
the character of the operation by which the direction of the line, 
and the latitude and longitude of the monument were obtained, 



722 Southwest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 

and to describe, by a short historic sketch hereto appended, the 
special line referred to, there having been three or more lines run 
by the interested parties at different periods. 

"The instruments employed to determine the exact geographical 
position of the observatory on Lancaster Hill, Goodson^ in connec- 
tion with the Eclipse of August 7th, were a Transit and Zenith 
Telescope, each mounted on a solid pier composed of brick and 
cement. The latitude was determined by 12 pairs of stars, and 
the longitude by the transmission of time signals to the Naval Ob- 
servatory at Washington, on three nights, the telegraph wires hav- 
ing been connected and placed at our disposal for that purpose. 
The observations to secure those results were made by Assistant A. 
T. Mosman during nine nights, between the 28th of July and the 
7th of August. 

"To connect the Zenith Telescope with the boundary, a base was 
measured and a txiangulation executed, including two stations on 
the line recogTiized by the inhabitants as the boundary of 1802, and 
as specially pointed out by Thomas D. Walthall, Esq., of Bristol, 
an engineer and surveyor well informed on the subject. 

"The azimuth oi the line was derived from measurements made 
between Ursa Minor at its upper culmination and three of the 
principal triangle sides. 

"Before leaving Bristol, it was understood that permanent monu- 
ments would be erected by the municipal aiitliorities of Bristol and 
Goodson, at two points determined on the boimdary. The piers on 
Lancaster Hill were placed, by letter, under the protection of the 
Mayor of Goodson. 

"Upon examination of the charters, agreements and legislative 
enactments referring to the dividing line between Virginia on the 
one side and North Carolina and Tennessee on the other, as fully 
quoted and explained in the accompanying appendix, it will be 
ascertained that from the date of the second charter of King Charles 
II., in 1G65, to the latest legislation in regard to its demarcation, in 
1860, the southern boundary of Virginia has been supposed to be 
situated, as it was in part directed to be traced, on the parallel of 
36° 30'. 

"The joint commission which was organized in 1779 was di- 
rected to start upon the parallel of 36 30', and to continue on that 
parallel to the Tennessee river. As the respective commissioners 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 723 

differed in the results of their observations, two lines were rim, 
known as the Walker and Henderson lines, neither of which was 
correct. Finally as a kind of compromise and under the supposi- 
tion that the true line must certainly be between the two then in 
dispute, other commissioners were appointed in 1800, with full 
powers from Virginia and rather limited powers from Tennessee^ 
and under the direction of this Joint Commission a supposed mid- 
dle line was then marked, which line was ratified, established and 
confirmed by Virginia on the 23d of January, 1803, and by Ten- 
nessee in the month of November following. This line is neither 
on the parallel of 36 30' nor midway between the Walker and Hen- 
derson Lines, and yet it must be recognized, as the law directs, 'as 
the true, certain and real boundary between the two States.' 

"Owing, however, to the lapse of time, this line has become 'in- 
distinct, imcertain and to some extent unknown,' and in conse- 
quence thereof Virginia, m 1856, appointed Commissioners to 
'again run and mark said line.' In 1858, the State of Tennessee 
responded to the Virginia legislation by authorizing the appoint- 
ment of Commissioners foT a similar purpose, and also the organi- 
zation of a Field Party, to consist of an Engineer and SurveyoT, 
well qualified to make said survey upon scientific principles. 
This last direction would appear to confer an indirect but very 
necessary authority to run a new line, in case the old one could 
not be identified. The Commissioners duly reported their proceed- 
ings and acts to their respective States. In 1860, Virginia disap- 
proved of and rejected the line thiis re-run and marked, and, by the 
same resolution of the General Assembly, the Governor was em- 
powered to appoint one or more conunissioners to again run the 
boundary as defined in the Statute of January 22nd, 1803. This 
is the last act of legislation referring to the boundary line between 
Virginia and Tennessee, and from this it has been inferred that 
the location of the line has not been definitely settled. 

"The following table and memoranda show the results of the 
operations at Bristol. The latitudes of the Henderson and Wal- 
ker lines at points situated respectively North and South of Bris- 
tol, were computed from data supplied by Thomas I). Walthall, 
Esq. : 



•^24 



Southwest Virginia, 17!i0-1786. 





When 
Kun. 

1779 


Supposed 
Latitude. 


True 
Latitude. 


True 
Longitude. 


Henderson, or North 
Carolina line 


36° 36' 0(y^ 


36° 36' 48. ^' 




Walker or Virginia 
line 


1779 


36° 36' 00'^ 


36° 34' 25.5" 




The Middle line, 
East Mont 


1802 


36° 36^ 00" 


36° 35' 38.9" 


82° 10' 40.00" 


The Middle line. 
West Mont 


1802 


30° 36' 00" 


36° 40' 40.0" 


82° 11' 25.12" 



"The azimuth, or direction of the line, from East to West monu- 
ment is 91°, 51', 51", or North 88°, 09', 00" West true. 

"It will be perceived that the direction of the Middle line, the 
present acknowledged boundary, is nearly two degrees north of a 
due west course, and if this direction should have been continued 
to the Cumberland Mountains, a very large wedge of Virginia ter- 
ritory must have been cut ofP. In fact, we find from the numerous 
and reliable observations made for latitude, in 1859, at Newlee's 
sulphur spring, at or close to the Cumberland Gap, as published in 
the 'Eeport of the Commissioners appointed to mark the boundary 
line between the States of Kentucky and Tennessee' that the South- 
west corner of Virginia is situated in latitude 36°, 36', 00.94", or 
6', 91", .ISTorth of the true line. 

"According to the observations made in connection with the sur- 
vey of the coast .of tlie United States, the correct latitude of the 
line where it crosses Knott's Island, situated about three miles 
west of the site of old Currituck Inlet, is 36°, 33', 15", and not 36°, 
31', as determined in 17S8; and the correct latitude of the line, 
west of the Alleghany mountains, where it separates Goodson from 
Bristol, is 36°, 35', 39", .5 and not 36°, 31', upon which parallel 
it was intended by all the parties interested that the line should 
be run. — These discrepancies are not a matter of surprise in view 
of the defective method adopted for tracing the parallel, of the in- 
ferior class of astronomical and surveying instruments employed 
by the old surveyors, and of the more than probable errors commit- 
ted in running the line, due, in part, to a want of care in determin- 
ing the magnetic variation. From the data already presented, it 
may be fairly inferred that if the different surveys had been con- 
ducted as they would be to-day, the State of Virginia would now 



I 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 725 

include within its limits at least 800 square miles of additional 
territor}'. 

"A sketch of the triangulation, and the computations of the tri- 
angle sidcs^ latitudes, longitudes, and azimuths, are attached to 
this report. 

"1 am, Eespectfully yours, 

"ElCHARD D. CUTTS ." 

In the year 1871, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an 
a<:'t providing for the appointment of commissioners to ascertain 
and locate the true boundary line between this State and the State 
of Tennessee, and in the year 1886 a similar act was adopted, but 
tlie State of Tennessee persistently refusing to take any action 
looking to a settlement of the question, the General Assembly of 
Virginia, on the 31st day of January, 1890, passed an act repeal- 
ing the act of the General Assembly of Virginia passed on the 22d 
of January, 1803, confirming and establishing the boundary line 
between this State and the State of Tennessee as ascertained by the 
report of the commissioners appointed in that year, and declared 
the true line of this State to be in latitude 3G°, 30' north; and that 
tlie line agreed upon between the States on the 22d of January, 
1803, was erroneous by reason of mistakes in fact caused by de- 
fective instruments and incompetent observers, and that the same is 
not obligatory on the State. In the meantime, on the 7th day of 
January, 1890, a suit had been instituted in the Supreme Court of 
the United States by the Commonwealth of Virginia through her 
attorneys, E. A. Ayers and William F. Ehea vs. the Commonwealth 
of Tennessee, the object of the suit being to have the Supreme 
Court of the United States declare the true line between the States 
to be 36°, 30' north latitude, as provided for in the original chai-- 
ter of the colonies of Virginia and ISTorth Carolina. 

Numerous depositions were taken in this case, and the Suprciuc 
Court of the United States, on the 3d day of April, 1893, rendered 
their opinion, and decided that Virginia was estopped by her ac- 
tion in the year 1803, and declaring the true line between the States 
to be the compromise line of 1803.* 

Controversies between the citizens of Virginia and the cilizcns 
of Tennessee at this time and for some time previous thereto were 



•148 U. S. Reports, page 503. 



726 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

of frequent occurrence, and oftentimes seriously threatened the 
breach of the peace. 

In the year 1889, K. T. Wills, Joseph Southerland and E. E. 
Butler undertook to take possession of a tract of land situated near 
Green Cove in this county, the property of Marion Miller and the 
heirs of George W. Hopkins, deceased, and continued their efforts 
until the year 1892, in which year Marion Miller obtained an in- 
jvmction from the judge of the Circuit Court of this county re- 
straining the said Wills, Southerland and Butler from interfering 
with said property, and in the month of October, 1893, the de- 
fendants answered in said suit. Numerous depositions were taken, 
and on the 34th of May, 1895, the judge of the Circuit Court of 
this county rendered an opinion, holding that the summit of White 
Top, as the beginning of the compromise line of 1802, did not 
mean, nor never was intended to mean, the top of the highest peak 
of that mountain, but that it meant the top of the • mountain at 
the point where the compromise line run by the commissioners of 
1802 began. But the court, in view of the fact that the corner 
where the line of 1802 actually began was uncertain, ordered and 
decreed that the following issues out of chancery should be tried 
at the bar of the court, namely : 

First. Does the compromise line of 1808, between the States of 
Virginia and Tennessee, as located and established by General Jo- 
sei^h Martin, Creed Taylor and Peter Johnston, commissioners on 
the part of Virginia, and Moses Fisk, General John Sevier and 
General George Eutledge, commissioners on the part of Tennessee, 
lie south or north of the lands in controversy ? 

Second. At what point did it actually begin, and in what direc- 
tion was it actually run and located until it passed west of the 
lands now claimed by complainant and in controversy in this cause ? 

This issue was "tried by a jury, composed of E. P. Carson, W. 0. 
Booker, H. B. Eoberts, D. A. Jones, Jerry Whitaker, Thomas H. 
Akers, J. C. Hajter, George Jveller, James Hagy, W. F. Arnett, 
Eobert Miller, and James Fields. 

This jury, after hearing all the evidence produced by the par- 
ties, returned the following verdict: 

"1st. We, the jury, find and decide that the compromise line of 
1802-'03 runs south of the land in controversy. 

"2nd. The jury further find that the point, where that line be- 



Washington County, 1777 -181 0. 727 

gan is on the summit of Pond Mountain, and runs due west be- 
yond the lands in controversy." 

The defendants moved the court to set aside this verdict ol tlio 
jury and grant them a new trial, and the court, in the month of 
January, 189G, delivered an opinion disagreeing with the jury in 
their conclusions and adjudging that the top of Pond mountain was 
not the summit of Wliite Top, where the said line began, and fixed 
said line north, instead of south, of the land in controversy, and 
declared the land in controversy to be in the State of Tennessee 
and without the jurisdiction of the court. 

From this opinion of the court the plaintiff, Marion Miller, ap- 
pealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and that court, on the 
18th of jSTovember, 1897, delivered an opinion reversing the judg- 
ment of the Circuit Court of Washington county and fixing the 
boundary line between the States of Virgiilia and Tennessee as a 
straight line, beginning on the top of White Top mountain where 
the northeastern comer of Tennessee terminates and following a due 
west course midway between Walker's and Henderson's lines to the 
top of the Cumberland mountain where the southwestern corner of 
Virginia terminates.* 

By this decision the contention of the citizens of the State of 
Virginia was sustained, and the position of the claimants of lands 
under titles derived from the State of Virginia was greatly 
strengthened. 

Thus matters stood when, on the 30th day of April, 1900, a 
consent decree was entered by the Supreme Court of the United 
States in the suit of Tennessee, complainant, vs. the State of Vir- 
ginia, defendant, directing commissioners to ascertain, retrace, re- 
mark and re-establish the boundary line between the State of Ten- 
nessee and the State of Virginia as fixed in the year 1803. 

W. C. Hodgkins, J. B. Baylor and Andrew H. Buchanan were 
appointed commissioners to execute said decree. 

These commissioners proceeded to execute this decree, and on 
the 5th day of January, 1903, filed their report in the clerk's office 
of the Supreme Court of the United States, which report is in the 
words and figures following, to-wit: 



*92 Virginia Reports, page 337. 



728 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

To the Honorable the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the 

Supreme Court of the United States: 

Your commissioners, appointed by decree of this honorable court, 
dated April 30, 1900, to ascertain, retrace, re-mark and re-estab- 
lish the boundary line established between the States of Virginia 
and Tennessee, by the compact of 1803, which was actually run 
and located under proceedings had by the two States, in 1801-1803, 
and was then marked with five chops in the shape of a diamond, 
and which ran from White Top mountain to Cumberland Gap, re- 
spectfully represent that they have completed the duties assigned 
to them by the said decree of April 30, 1900, that they have re- 
marked and retraced the said boundary line as originally run and 
marked with five chops in the shape of a diamond in the year 1803, 
and that for the better securing of the same they have placed upon 
the said line, besides other durable marks, monuments of cut lime- 
stone, four and a half feet long and seven inches square on top, 
with Vs cut on their north faces and T's on their south faces, set 
three and a half feet in the ground, conveniently located as herein- 
after more fully described, so that the citizens of each State and 
others, by reasonable diligence, may readily find the true location 
of said boundary ; all of which is more particularly set forth in the 
detailed report of their operations which your commissioners here- 
with beg to submit, together with two maps explanatory of the 
same, a list of the several permanent monuments and other durable 
marks, and a complete bill of costs and charges. And your com- 
missioners further pray that this honorable court accept and con- 
firm this report; that the line as marked on the ground by said 
commissioners in the years 1901 and 1903 be declared to be the 
real, certain and true boundary between the States of Tennessee 
and Virginia; that your commissioners be allowed their expenses 
and reasonable charges for their own services in these premises, as 
shown on the bill of costs which forms a part of this report; and 
finally that your commissioners be discharged from further pro- 
ceedings in these premises. 

[seal.] William C. Hodgkins, 

Com^nissioner. 

[seal.] James B. Baylor^ 

Commissioner. 

[seal.] Andrew H. Buchanan^ 

Commissioner. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 729 

Detailed report of the oiDerations of the commission appointed 
by the Supreme Court of the United States (April 30, 1900,) to 
retrace and re-mark the boundary line between the States of Ten- 
nessee and Virginia. 

At the date of th'e above decree and for several months there- 
after the State of Virginia had no funds available for the proceed- 
ings ordered by the court, and none could be had until there could 
be a session of the State Legislature to make the needed appro- 
priation. It was, therefore, necessary for your commissioners to 
seek an extension of the time within which they might make their 
report, and, upon th'e motion of the attorney-general of Virginia, 
an extension was granted until the next term of court. 

At a session of the General Assembly of Virginia held in the 
winter of 1900-1901, the sum of five thousand dollars was appro- 
priated for the purpose of paying Virginia's share of the expenses 
of this boundary survey. The Tennessee Legislature had pre- 
viously made a like appropriation. 

Your commissioners, therefore, made preparations for beginning 
ihe execution of their duties under your decree of April 30, 1900, 
as early in the season of 1901 as the weather conditions should per- 
mit. 

The commission held its first meeting at Washington, D. C, on 
May IG, 1901, and organized by choosing William C. Hodgkins, 
of the State of Massachusetts, as chairman, James B. Baylor, of 
the State of Virginia, as secretary, and Andrew H. Buchanan, of 
the State of Tennessee, as treasurer. 

At this meeting there was a full discussion of the problem pre- 
sented and of the method of work which might be most suitable 
imder all the conditions. Arrangements were also made for pro- 
curing the necessary camp outfit and supplies. 

Through the courtesy of the superintendent of the United States 
Coast and Geodetic Survey your commissioners were able to pro- 
cure from that bureau, without charge, not only the outfit of tents 
and camp furniture required for the shelter and comfort of the 
party, but also valuable instruments needed for the survey. 

This relieved the States of Tennessee and Virginia of a consider- 
able expense which would otherwise have been unavoidable. 
The two States wero spared anotlicr heavy item of expense by the 
fact that each of yoiw cDinniissioncrs is a civil engineer and entirelv 



730 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

familiar with work of this nature. It was, therefore, unnecessary 
to follow the usual course of employing engineers or surveyors to 
carry out the field work under the direction of the commissioners. 
Instead of that, your commissioners themselves conducted all the 
field work, hiring only such rodmen, axemen, etc., as were necessary 
from time to time. By such methods and by exercising rigid 
economy in all their expenditures, your commissioners have been 
able to complete the entire work, including the setting of cut-stone 
monuments and also including the amount charged for their own 
remuneration for the sum of $9,475.99, which is but little more 
than the amount charged to the State of Virginia alone by the joint 
commission of 1858-1859. 

It having been decided at the first meeting of the commission 
that the most convenient place for beginning field operations would 
be the city of Bristol, which is located directly upon the boundary 
line, the commission adjourned to that place. 

Field-work was begun on May 23, 1901, with the examination of 
a portion of the line east of Bristol, where a number of trees were 
found which bore the marks of the surveys of 1803 and 1858-'59. 
As there have been considerable controversy and conflicting testi- 
mony in regard to the nature of these old marks, it may be well to 
show by diagrams and photographs the actual arrangements and 
appearance of those of both years, as well as of the somewhat dif- 
ferent mark which was used for the present re-marking by jomt 
commissioners : 

1802. 1859. 1902. 

- = - )J = 

— — \ / 

A\'liile the marks made in 1858-'59 are still numerous in forested 
areas and are generally easily distinguishable, those made in 1803 
are becoming scarce, and sometimes are barely discernible when 
found. 

This is shown in the accompanying photograph of a large white 
■oak -tree, upon which the marks of 1858-'59 can readily be traced, 
while only three of those made in 1803 can be distinguished, and 
those with difficulty. The marks of 1803 were apparently made 
Avith a small and light hatchet, and on many trees which have a 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 731 

thick and rough bark the hatchet does not seem to have reached 
the wood, and in such cases the gradual exfoliation of the bark 
has often nearly or entirely obliterated the mark. Where the wood 
was wonnd'ed a small burr has formed, which can nearly always be 
recognized; but cuts which did not completely penetrate the bark 
have sometimes disappeared. 

The marks left by the survey of 1858-'59 were foimd of very 
great value as guides to the older "diamond" marks of 1802. Both 
marks were often found on the same tree, and it was a rare occur- 
rence to find the diamond mark without the mark of 1859 either 
above or below it. In fact, it was very soon noticed that the mere 
fact of finding the mark of 1858-'59 either above or below the nor- 
mal position on a tree was an almost certain indication that a dia- 
mond mark had been found there at the date of tlie latter marking, 
even though, through tlie action of time and the elements, all ves- 
tiges of it may now have disappeared. Since the date of the last 
survey, very many marked trees have been destroyed through va- 
rious agencies, especially since the more rapid development of this 
section in the recent years has caused a greater demand for lum- 
ber, and in some places the trees bearing the old marks are so far 
apart and the marks themselves are so faint that great trouble and 
delay would often have been experienced in the search for these old 
marks had it not been for the aid afforded by the marks of 1858-'59, 
which always proved reliable guides by which to find the older 
marks. 

In this connection it may not b'e inappropriate for your commis- 
sioners to state that they everywhere found that the joint commis- 
sion of 1859 did its work in a careful and conscientions manner, 
and that they believe its line, as marked on the growing timber, is 
identical with that marked by the joint commission of 1802, and 
that full credence should be given to statements of fact in the re- 
port of that survey. 

From a point about a mile and a quarter cast of Bristol the line 
was traced without difficulty, other tlian that due to the broken na- 
ture of the country traversed, as far as the beginning of what is 
commonly known as the Denton Valley offset. 

At this point occurs the greatest and most remarkable irregu- 
larity in the whole course of this line, there being a deflection from 
the direct course of C6°, 10' for a distance of 8715.6 feet. The 



732 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

portion of the boundary east of the offset is further north than that 
west of the offset, so that the deflection is to the south in going 
westward from the eastern end of the line, the direction in which 
it was originally run out, or to the north in working eastward from 
Bristol, as was done in the present survey for reasons of conveni- 
ence. In either case the deflection is to the left hand ; but it is not 
the same in each case, as the two portions of the line east and west 
of the offsets are not exactly parallel to each other. This differ- 
ence of direction amounts to 1°, 30', as shown on the map of the 
line accompanying this report. 

Owing to the long controversy over this offset and the persistent 
assertions of certain parties that marked timber would be found on 
the eastern prolongation of the portion of the line extending from 
Bristol to Denton's valley, if the same were run out, your commis- 
sioners felt obliged, in order to settle the question for all time, to 
run out this line and make a careful search for marked timber 
along its course. This was accordingly done and a careful exami- 
nation of the timber on each side of the transit line was made as 
the work progressed, but with only negative results. 

Although several weeks were spent in running this line across 
the serfes of very rough and heavily-timbered mountains lying 
between Denton's valley and Poud Mountain, near the corner of 
North Carolina, and although every story brought to tlie commis- 
sioners by people interested in the result was carefully examined, 
your commissioners were utterly unable to find or have pointed out 
to them one authentic mark of tlie line 1802, either on this line or 
anywhere in its vicinity. 

On the other hand, the "offset line" and the portion of the line 
running eastward from the offset to th'e vicinity of the White Top 
mountain were found well marked ; both tlic 1802 and the 1858-'59 
marks were fovmd at frequent intervals. 

In order to be assured that these marks were authentic, blocks 
were cut from several of these trees at different points on said 
offset line, and the ages of th'e marks were determined by counting 
the rings of the annual growth. 

These tests showed that the marks were of the supposed age. 
The ages of the most important marks were verified by the United 
States Bureau of Forestry. As was found in 1858-'59, the marking 
of tlic timber ceased (or began) on a comparatively low eminence, 



Washington Cowiiy, 1777-1870. 733 

known as Burnt Hill, vvliicli from the neighboring heights of White 
Top or Poud mountain seems to be in the bottom of a hollow. 

The apparent discrepancy between this situation and the lan- 
guage of the report of the joint commissioners of 1802, which 
reads : "Beginning on the summit of the mountain generally known 
as tlie White Top mountain/' etc., has led some to suppose that 
the line should be extended further east, to the summit of the so- 
called "divide" or watershed between the tributaries of the Holston 
and New rivers. 

There seems, however, nothing to support this theory except the 
somewhat hazy idea that the eastern end or point of beginning of 
this line ought to be on a suimnit. 

i\.s a matter of fact, the actual end of tlie line of Burnt Hill is 
on quite as much of a summit as if it had been on the "divide," 
which in this place is so low and fiat as to be scarcely perceptible 
as an elevation of any importance. It certainly could never be sup- 
posed to be the summit of White Top mountain, which towers far 
above it, its huge, dome-like bulk filling the northeastern horizon. 

No marked trees of 1803 or 1858-'"59 could be found east of 
Burnt Hill, though the line was produced through heavy timber of 
original growth to the "divide," and careful search was made for 
them. The same condition was found in 1859, as reported by the 
commission of that year. A point which that commission seems 
to have overlooked is the important fact that the eastern end of 
the marked line at Burnt Hill is almost exactly in line between 
the comer of North Carolina, on Pond Mountain, and the sum- 
mit of White Top mountain. What more likely than that the 
commissioners of 1802, who had agreed to lay out a line equally 
distant from tlie older lines, known as Walker's and Henderson's 
and beginning on the summit of the mountain generally known 
as the White Top mountain, should begin at the point where the 
Walker line reached the northwestern corner of North Carolina, 
and where accordingly the jurisdiction of Tennessee should begin, 
and run thence in the direction of the most important peak to the 
northward and eastward until they reached the desired middle 
point between the lines of Walker and Henderson, and from that 
point started on their westerly course. It is hard to understand 
why they should have omitted to mark this part of the line; but 
this small bit of boundary extending from the northeast corner of 



734 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Tennessee to the northwest corner of North Carolina seems to have 
been somewhat overlooked in more recent proceedings. Yonr com- 
missioners respectfully recommend that the straight line between 
these two points be declared to be the boimdar}^, believing as they 
do, in the absence of any marks to the contrary, that this was the 
original and true line. All of this section is composed of very 
ruggod and densely-wooded mountains with but a scanty popula- 
tion. 

The progress of the work in this mountainous anl almost inac- 
cessible region was delayed not only by the nature of the country 
and by the fact that in this very worst part of the whole line it was 
necessary to rim out these two independent lines, doubling the labor 
to be expended, but also by the unfortimately rainy weather whicli 
was experienced. The frequent and heavy rains often stopped 
field work, washed the few roads so badly that they became almost 
impassable, and raised the streams so high that sometimes for 
daj's at a time it ^vas impossible to ford them. 

It was not until September 21st that your commissioners were 
able to close work in the White Top region and return to Bristol 
to start westward from that place towards Cumberland Gap. 

For the remainder of the season, however, both the weather and 
the nature of the country were much more favorable for field 
operations, and excellent progress was made, though it was impos- 
sible to complete the work before the approach of winter. 

So far as the portion of the boundary passing through the cen- 
tral portion of the city of Bristol is concerned, the labors of your 
commissioners were forestalled by a special act of the General 
Assembly of the State of Tennessee, approved January 28, 1901, 
ceding to the State of Virginia the northern half of the main 
street of the two cities. The General Assembly of Virginia ac- 
cepted the cession hy an act approved February 9, 1901, and the 
action of the two legislatures was subsequently ratified by the Con- 
gress and approved by the President of the United States March 
3, 1901. This cession covers, however, but a small part of the 
boundary, extending only from the northwest corner of the old 
town of Bristol on the west to the western boundary of the Bristol 
cemetery on the east. As it is important to guard against the 
possible renewal of this long-standing controversy, and as the town 
is already extending beyond the above limits, it was deemed proper 



Washington County, 1777-1810. 735 

to mark the old diamond line by monuments, just as if there had 
been no legal change in the boundary for this short distance. But 
your commissioners regret to report that they have been unable to 
reach a unanimous conclusion in regard to the true location of the 
said diamond line within and near the above limits. 

Commissioners Hodgkins and Buchanan, after careful study of 
all the evidence of record and after diligent examination of the 
ground, are of the opinion that the said diamond line of 1803-1803 
runs from monument No. 35, near the first marked trees east of 
Bristol, in a straight line, to monument Ko. 36, on the western 
boundary of the Bristol cemetery and on the north line of Main or 
State street; thence along the northern line of said Main or State 
street to "a planted stone in the edge of a field formerly owned by 
Z. L. Burson, being the northwest corner of the corporate territory 
of the old town of Bristol" referred to in the act of cession, supra; 
and thence in a straight line to monument No. 38 in the fork of the 
main road and near the first marked trees west of Bristol. 

Conmiissioner Baylor, on the other hand, after equally careful 
consideration of all the evidence of record and diligent examina- 
tion of the groimd, is of the opinion that the said diamond line of 
1803-1803 runs from monument No. 35, near the first marked tree 
east of Bristol, in a straight line to monument No. 37, situated 
just outside of the wall of the Bristol cemetery, and on the middle 
line of Main or State street as it rrms west from this point; and 
thence in a straight line along the middle of Main or State street 
to monument No. 38, near the centre of the fork of the main road 
and near the first marked trees of 1858-'59 west of Bristol. 

The said line running through the centre of Main or State street 
is just thirty feet south of monument No. 36 on the north property 
line of JMain or State street outside the western wall of Bristol 
cemetery. 

Westward from Bristol, the boundary was retraced without dif- 
ficulty by the marked trees, just as in the previous work to the 
eastward. 

Only one marked deviation from the general course of the line 
was encountered during the remainder of the season. This was on 
the property formerly known as the Hickman place, in the vicinity 
of the village of Bloomingdale, Tennessee. 

Here the line was found to have a deflection of 8°, 30' to the 



736 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

right or north for the distance of 3161.8 feet. From the west- 
ern end of this offset the line resumed its general westerl}' course, 
and so continued imtil the end of tlie work of that year. As the 
season advanced it became evident that even under the most favor- 
able conditions it would be impossible to complete the survey with- 
out working far into the winter, which on many accounts was un- 
desirable. 

The attorney-generals of the two States therefore joined in a 
request for a further extension of time within which your com- 
missioners might file their report, and this honorable court there- 
upon extended that time until the opening of the October term, 
1902. 

The field operations for the season of 1901 were closed at the 
end of October, at wdiich time the survey had been extended to the 
Clinch river, forty-three miles east of Cumberland Gap, the total 
length of boundary retraced being seventy miles, besides sixteen 
miles of trial line run on the extension of the ''straight line" from 
Denton's valley to Pond mountain. 

Before the opening of the field work for the season 1902 a com- 
plaint reached your commissioners from a citizen of Johnson 
county, Tennessee, supposed to be reliable, to the effect that inter- 
ested parties were interfering with the marks placed on the line the 
previous year, and that, in some cases at least, the monuments had 
not been properly placed by the persons employed for that pur- 
pose. 

Although these statements seem scarcely credible in view of the 
general interest taken in the Avork by the inhabitants, your com- 
missioners thought it best to investigate the matter and to satisfy 
themselves by personal inspection that the monuments had re- 
mained undisturbed in their proper places. 

This was accordingly done at the outset of the season's work, 
and it was ascertained tliat the stories of falsification of the mark- 
ing were without any foundation of fact: that all the monuments 
between the northeast corner of Temiessee and Bristol had been 
properly set, and that none of them had been disturbed. 

Thesse preliminary operations occupied the time from June 23 
to July 4, on which day your commissioners returned to Bristol. 
After placing some additional monuments on the old line in and 
near Bristol they proceeded to Gate City, Virginia, where the 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 737 

camp outfit had l)oon stored at the closo of the work in the pre- 
ceding autumn, and at once went into camp at Robinett, Tennes- 
see, west of the north fork of the Clinch river. 

The survey of the boundary line was resumed at the point where 
it had been suspended the year before, at the crossing of Clinch 
river near Church's ford. 

From this point to Cumberland Gap the line crosses a succession 
of mountains and valleys with comparatively little level or cleared 
land. Little ditficulty was experienced in tracing the line in this 
part pf its course, the marked trees being generally found at fre- 
quent intervals. The line preserved its general course as before, 
except that two deflections to the northward were found, which 
were similar to that found the year before near Bloomingdale. 

The first of these occurred on the mountain called Wall'en's 
Ridge, where the line made a deflection of 19° to the north before 
reacliing the summit, and kept that course for a distance of 4643.7 
feet before resuming its usual direction. There were numerous 
trees with both the 1802 and 1859 marks on this deflected line. 

The final deflection of 4° 10' to the north for a distance of 
G503.3 feet began at the "old furnace road" near Station creek, 
less than three miles from the west end of the line on Cumberland 
mountain. From the western end of this offset the line runs 
straight to the terminus. 

There has been considerable controversy and litigation ovea* 
these last three miles of the boundary, and a number of witnesses 
have testified in the case of Virginia ag't Tennessee, Supreme 
C'ourt Tl'nited States, October term 1891, that there were none of 
the niarks of the previous surveys remaining between Station creek 
and the summit of Cumberland mountain, owing to the destruction 
of the timber in that area during the military operations of the 
Civil war. 

Your commissioners w^ere able to find, however, three trees well 
marked with the mark of 1859 survey, and at least one of these 
bore evidence in the position of this mark that an old diamond 
mark was formerly visible above it. 

These marked trees were found on the east and west ])art of the 
line wc-st of the offset, and are in excellent alignment, and settled 
beyond the possibility of doubt the location of this part of the 
boundary, and hence the short remaining distance to the summit 



■ySS Southwest Virginia, 17 Jf 6-17 86. 

of Cumberland mountain. This line passes near and a little south 
of the old mill several times referred to in the case above cited^ and 
thence across the Union railroad station, leaving most of the town 
of Cumberland Gap in Tennessee. The summit of Cumberland 
mountain was reached on Saturday, August 23, 1902, and on the 
following Monday the field work of the survey was completed and 
the camp outfit was packed and shipped to Washington. Your 
commissioners then separated; Professor Buchanan returned to 
his home at Lebanon, Tennessee, to work up his field notes, and 
Mr. Hodgkins to Washington, to attend to business of the commis- 
sion and to draft a report of its operations, while Mr. Baylor 
remained on the ground until September 13, superintending the 
placing of monuments along the part of the line surveyed in 1902. 

In conclusion, your commissioners state that they have found the 
duties imposed upon them by your instructions often arduous 
and exacting, and that the survey just completed proved far more 
laborious, and was attended by greater hardships, than any of them 
had anticipated; but that they have nevertheless given the same 
careful attention to every part of it, and that they believe it to be 
correct throughout. 

List of monuments of cut limestone and other durable marks as 
hereinafter more fully described: 

(1) — At northeast corner of Tennessee, at Burnt Hill. 

(2) — On summit of Flat Spring ridge. 

(3) — On Valley Creek road on John Tolliver's place. 

(4) — On road from Laurel river to White Top mountain near an 
old mill. 

(5) — On road up Laurel river near a double ford. 

On summit of Iron mountain, near the north end of the rocky 
bluff, a cairn of rocks was erected. 

(6) — At eastern foot Jlolston mountain, a short distance from 
Beaver Dam creek and tjie Virginia and Carolina railway. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station, "Damascus,'^ 

U S 
on summit of Holston mountain, a stone marked X 

C S 

(7) — On Eockhouse Branch road in the valley on Mary Nealy 
place. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 739 

(8) — Oil road from Barron railway station to New Shady road 
cut-stone mo'miment of 1858-'59. 

(9) — In woods north of New Shady road where tlie line changes 
its course to south 23° 50' west (mag.) a marked deflection from 
the general course of the line. 

(10) — On the New Shady road where this deflected line 
crosses it. 

(11) — In Avoods on Little mountain west of Cox creek where 
this bearing of south 23° 50' west (mag.) ends, and the line re- 
sumes its general course to the westward. 

(12) — On the road just north of cross road leading to Thomas 
Denton's place. 

(13) — On road on hill on C. D. Short's place. 

(14) — On road on east bank of the south fork of Holston river, 
cut-stone monument of 1858-'59. 

(15) — On hill in George Garrett's cow lot west and north of 
south fork Holston river. 

(16) — On road to King's mill near John Buckle's house. 

(17) — On road to King's Mill via Thomas' place, 

(18) — On summit of open hill east of Painter place, concrete 
monument. 

(19) — On road running east of Painter house. 

(20) — On road running west of Painter house, cut-stone monu- 
ment of 1858-'59. 

(21) — On road through woods west of Painter property. 

(22) — On summit of first high ridge east of Paper ville road. 

(23) — On Paperville road at Jones' place. 

(24) — On road west of Carmack house. 

(25) — On Booher place near first marked tree of 1858~'59 cfvst 
of Bristol. 

(2G) — On north property line of the main street of Bristol out- 
side the western wall of the cemetery. Commissioner Baylor does 
not consider this a part of the true line. 

(27) — Outside the street wall of Bristol cemetery at the point 
where the average centre line of Main street intersects said wall. 
Commissioners Hodgkins and Buchanan do not consider this a 
point on the boundary. A stone post in the edge of a field formerly 
owned by Z. L. Burson at the northwest corner of the old corporate 



-^40 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

torritory of the old town of Bristol. Commissioner Baylor doei? 
not consider this a jooint on the boundary. 

(28) — In the fork of the main road west of the town of Bristol. 

(29) — On the road to Bristol east of Worley place. 

(30) — On road to Bristol west of Worley place. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey triangnlation station, "Dunn/' on 

U S 
summit of ridge on old Dunn's place, stone marked X 

C S 

(31) — On Dishner A^alley road. 

(32) — On road to Bristol east of Gumni spring. 

(33) — On road to Bristol near Tallman house. 

(34) — On road in valley west of old abandoned railway bed. 

(35)— On Scott road. 

(36) — On road west of Akard place. 

(37) — On road near Jackson place. 

(38) — On Boozey Creek road. 

(39)— On road to Hilston ford, cut-stone monument 1858-'59. 

(40)- — On Timbertree road. 

(41) — Between two roads just east of Gate City road. 

(42) — In woods west of Gate City road where there is a deflec- 
tion of 8° 30' to the right or north from the general course of the 
line on old Hickman place. 

(43) — In woods northeast of Bloomingdale where this 8° 30' de- 
floiition from the general course of the line ends in going west- 
ward and line resumes its general course. 

(44) — On road to Bloomingdale. 

(45) — On Wall Gap road. 

(46)- — On road up ravine. 

(47)— On Carter Valley road. 

(48) — On Gate City and Kingsport road, cut-stone monument of 
1858-'59. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey triangiilation station, "Cloud," on 

U S 
blufP of North Holston river, stone marked X 

C S I 

(49) — On east bank of North Holston river. | 

(50) — On road on west bank of North Holston river. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 741 

(51) — At cross roads on Stanlo}^ A'alley road, cut-stone monu- 
ment of 1858-'59. 

(53)— On Stanley Valley road on hill at turn in road. 

(53) — On Cameron postoffice road. 

(54) — On Stanley Valley road south of barn of IST. J. Bussell, 
cut-stone monument of 1858-'59. 

(55) — On Stanley Valley road, cut-stone monument of 1858-'59. 

(56) — On road which runs across Opossum ridge. 

(57) — On Moore's Gap road. 

(58) — On Caney Valley road. 

(59) — On Little Poor Valley road south of Mary Field house. 

(60) — On Poor Valley road, cut-stone monument of 1858-'59. 

On summit of Clinch mountain, cairn of rocks erected a few 

feet south of the Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station, 

U S 

"Wildcat," which station marked with X cut in sandstone rock. 

C S 
( 61 ) —On Clinch Valley road . 

(62) — On road on east hank of Clinch river above Church's ford. 

(63) — On road at Jane Bagicy's house. 

On summit of open liill east of Fisher Valley road line, crosses 
solid rock. Small hole drilled in it with a T cut south of hole and 
V north of it. 

(64) — On Fisher Valley road. 

On summit of a liigh ridge east of Eobinett line, crosses solid 
rock. Small hole drilled in it with V cut on north side of hole and 
T south of it. 

(65) — On road at Eobinett. 

On side of ridge at east edge of woods line, crosses rock. Small 
liole drilled in it with V cut on north side of hole and T on south 
of it. 

On summit of N"owma7r's ridge line, crosses rock similarly marked. 

(66) — On Kogersville and Jonesville road. 

(67)— On Little Creek road. 

(68) — On Sneedville and Black Water Salt Works road. 

(69) — On Black Water Valley road near J. Mullen's house. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulaiion stniiou, "Powell," on 

U S 
summit of Powell mountain, large sandslone rock mai'ked X 

C S 



742 Southwest Virginia, 17If6-1786. 

(?0) — On Mulberry Gap and Wallen Creek road near large 
poplar. 

(71) — Near junction of Mulberry Gap and Jonesville roads. 

(73) — On east face of Wallen's ridge on edge of trail over ridge 
where there is a deflection to the right or north of 19° from the 
general course of the line. 

On summit of Wallen's ridge line, crosses large sandstone rock. 
Small hole cut in it with V cut north of hole and T south oi it. 

(73) — On west face of Wallen's ridge in open field on the 
boundary fence of Mollie Thompson- and J. W. Moore, where this 
deflection of 19° from the general course of the line ends in going- 
westward and line resumes its general course. 

(74) — On road east of Powell river and north of AVelch or 
Baldwin ford. 

On rock blufl: west of Powell river a small hole was cut with V 
north of this hole and T south of it. 

(75) — On Powell river and Sneedville road, on west hill of 
Powell river, rough stone moninuent with V cut on north face and 
T on south face. 

(76) — On Powell river and Sneedville road. 

(77) — On Martin Creek road. 

(78) — On Low Hollow road. 

(79)— On Four Mile Creek road. 

(80)— On Bayless' Mill road. 

(81) On Ball's Mill road. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station, "Minter," on 
summit of hill near gate and fence corner. 

(83) — On road south of Jacob Estep's house. 

(84) — On East Machine Branch road. 

(85) — On West Machine Branch road. 

(8G) — On Ducktown road. 

(87) — On Mud Hollow Hole road near large limestone spring. 

(88) — On Hoskin's A^'alley road near large limestone spring. 

(89) — On George Souther's saw-mill road. 

(90) — On Ijouisville and Nashville railway near Brooks' cross- 
ing. 

(91) — On old Iron Works roads where there is a deflection of 
4° 10' to the right on north from the general course of the line. 

(92) — On Station Creek road. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 743 

(93) — On the east side of Poor Valley ridge where this deflec- 
tion of 4;° 10' from the general course of the line ends in going 
westward and line resumes its general course. 

(94) — On Cumberland Gap and Virginia road east of Cumber- 
land Gap. 

(95) — On small hill just east of road connecting Cumberland 
Gap with Old Virginia and Cumberland Gap road in the edge of 
the old town park. 

(96) — On side of open hill facing south about two and one-half 
squares east of the Tazewell and Kentucky roads at Cumberland 
Gap. 

(97) — On west side of Tazewell and Kentucky roads and just 
east of woolen factory at Cumberland Gap. 

(98) — At foot, of Cumberland mountain west of the Union Rail- 
way station and in line with tlie south edge of the south chimney 
of said Union Eailway station. 

(99) — On summit of Cumberland mountain. The monument 
of cut limestone had V and T cut on its adjacent vertical faces 
and "Corner" cut on its top. Its base is set in cement and broken 
rock with one diagonal running east and west. The summit of the 
sandstone ledge was blasted in order to set this monument. 

In addition to the cut-stone monuments and other durable marks 
your commissioners marked with six chops^ thus : 

W 

w 

the trees on and within ten feet of this line on each side. 

Your commissioners unanimously agree in recommending that 
the rights of individuals having claims or titles to lands on either 
side of said boundary lino as ascertained, re-marked and re-estab- 
lished by your commissioners shall not in consequence thereof in 
any wise be prejudiced or affected where said iudividuals liavc paid 
tlieir taxes in good faith in the wrong State. 

[seal.] William C. Hodgkins, 

Commissioner. 
[seal.] Jaaees B. Baylor^ 

Commissioner. 
[seal.] Andrew II. Buchanan, 

Commissioner. 



744 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

The Supreme Court of the United States on the 1st day ol June, 
1903, confirmed this report and entered the following order: 

This cause came on to be heard on May 18, 1903, on the proceed- 
ings heretofore had herein and upon tlie report of William C. 
Hodgkins, James B. Baylor and Andrew H. Buchanan, commis- 
sioners appointed by the decretal order herein of April 30, 1900, to 
ascertain, retrace, re-mark and re-establish the real, certain and 
true boundary line between the States of Tennessee and Virginia 
as actually run and located from White Top mountain to Cumber- 
land Gap under proceedings had between the two States in 1801- 
1803, and as adjudged and decreed by this court in its decree of 
April 3, 1893, in a certain original case in equity wherein the State 
of Virginia was complainant and the State of Tennessee was de- 
fendant, which report is annexed hereto and made part hereof. 

And it appearing to the court that said report was iiled in this 
court on the 5th day of January, 1903, and that the same is un- 
excepted to by either party in any respect, therefore, \ipon tlie mo- 
tion of the State of Tennessee by her attorney-general and of tlie 
State of Virginia by her attorney-general, it is ordered that said 
report be, and the same is herel^y, in all things confirmed. 

It is thereupon ordered, adjudged and decreed that the real, 
certain and true boundary line between the States of Tennessee 
and Virginia as actually run and located under the compact and 
proc-eedings had between the two States in 1801-1803, and as ad- 
judged by this court on the 3d day of April, 1893, in said original 
cause in equity wherein the State of Virginia was complainant and 
the State of Tennessee was defendant as aforesaid, was at the in- 
stitution of this suit, and now is, except as hereinafter shown, as 
described and delineated in said report filed herein on January 5, 
1903, as aforesaid. 

And it further appearing to the court, and it being so admitted 
by both parties, that since the institution of this suit and the de- 
cretal order of April 30, 1900, as aforesaid, a compact was entered 
into by the States of Tennessee and Virginia expressed in the con- 
current laws of said States, namely, the act of the General Assem- 
bly of Tennessee, approved January 28, 1901, entitled "An act to 
cede to the State of Virginia a certain narrow strip of territory be- 
longing to the State of Tennessee lying between the nortliern 
boniidary line of the city of Bristol, in the county of Sullivan, 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 745 

and the southern boundary line of the city of Bristol, in the county 
of Washington, State of Virginia, being the northern half of 
Main street of the said two cities," and the reciprocal act of the 
General Assembly of Virginia, approved February 9, 1901, en- 
titled "An act to accept the cession by the State of Tennessee to 
the State of Virginia of a certain narrow strip of territory claimed 
as belonging to the State of Tennessee and described as lying be- 
tween the northern boundary line of the city of Bristol, in the 
county of Sullivan, State of Tennessee, and the southern boundary 
line of the city of Bristol, in the county of Washington, State of 
Virginia, being the northern half of the Main street of the said 
two cities." 

And it further appearing that said compact received the consent 
of the Congress of the United States by joint resolution appro'ved 
March 3, 1901, as follow^s: 

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled. That a recent 
compact or agreement having been made by and between the States 
of Tennessee and Virginia wdiereby the State of Tennessee by an 
act of its legislature approved January twenty-eighth, nineteen 
Inmdred and one, ceded to the State of Virginia certain territory 
s])ecifically described in said act, and being the northern half of the 
i\Iain street between the cities of Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia, 
and the State of Virginia, by act of its general assembly, approved 
February ninth, nineteen hundred and one, having accepted said 
cession of the State of Tennessee, the consent of Congress is hereby 
given to said compact or agreement between said States fixing the 
boundary lino between said States as shown l)y said acts referred to, 
and the same is hereby ratified." 

And the said commissioners in their said rojjort having ascer- 
tained and recommended the straight line from the end of the "dia- 
mond marked" or compact line of 1801-1803 to the corner of the 
States of North Carolina and Tennessee as the true boundary lino 
between the States of Virginia and Tennessee between those two 
points, the court, approving said recommendation and finding of 
said commissioners, doth adopt tlie same. 

And tlic court being of opinion that it is proper to recognize tlie 
line so established by said last mentioned compact of 1901 as the 
real, certain, and true interstate l)0iindary lino within and between 
said two cities, and to definitely determine and li\ in this cause 



746 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

what is the real and true and certain boundary line between said 
States throughout the entire length thereof from the corner of the 
States of North Carolina and Tennessee, on Pond mountain, to 
the corner of Virginia and Kentucky, at Cumberlnd Gap, doth 
therefore adjudge, order, and decree that the entire, real, certain 
and true boundary line between the States of Tennessee and Vir- 
ginia is the line described and delineated in said report filed herein 
on January 5, 1903, modified as to so much of said line as lies 
between the two cities of Bristol by the aforesaid compact of 1901 
between the two States, and as so described, delineated and modi- 
fied said boundary line, from the said North Carolina corner to the 
eastern end of the compact line of 1801-1803, known as the "dia- 
mond marked" line, and thence to Cumberland Gap, is hereby de- 
termined, fixed and established. 

It is to be hoped that this action of the Supreme Court of the 
United States will put an end to this controversy, which has lasted 
for more than 130 years. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 747 



Biographical Sketches. 



REV. CHAS. CUMMINGS. 
Mr. Cummings was an Irishman by birth, and came to America in early 
manhood. Soon after arriving in this country he entered Carlisle College, 
Pennsylvania. After receiving a thorough education he settled in Lancas- 
ter county, "Virginia, and on the 13th of February, 1766, he married Miss 
Mildred Carter. He was licensed to preach by Hanover Presbytery on the 
18th of April, 1767, and received a call to the North Mountain church, in 
Augusta county, which church he served until 1772, when he received a 
call to the Sinking Spring and Ebbing Spring congregations, on the Hol- 
ston. This call he accepted, and removed with his family to a tract of land 
in the neighborhood of Abingdon. He served the Sinking Spring church 
until the year 1812, the date of his death, which occurred in March of that 
year. 

He accompanied Colonel Christian upon his expedition against the Chero- 
kees in the year 1776, and preached in the territory, now in the State of 
Tennessee, being the first preacher in that territory. 

He joined a company organized at Abingdon vinder the command of 
Colonel Evan Shelby, and hurried to the relief of the inhabitants at 
Watauga when besieged by the Indians, in 1776. 

He was the first named on the Committee of Safety for Fincastle county, 
and is accredited with the honor of having drafted the Fincastle resolutions 
which were adopted on the 20th of January, 1775. He assisted in drafting 
a petition from Hanover Presbytery to the General Assembly of Virginia, 
asking the separation of the Church and the State, in October, 1776. 

When Washington county was formed, in the year 1777, he was elected 
chairman of the Committee of Safety, and by his example and admonition 
did much to fire the spirit of patriotism which blazed forth so brilliantly 
among the people of the Holston in the War of the Revolution. 

He was of middle stature, about five feet ten inches high, well set and well 
formed, possessing great personal firmness and dignity of character. His 
voice was strong and had great compass; his articulation slow, clear and 
distinct; without api)nrent cirort he cnuld speak to lie hoard by ton thou- 
sand people. His mind was good, but not brilliant. He uudorslood his own 
system well; spoke always with gravity, and required it from all who sat 
under the sound of his voice. He would not tolerate any movement among 
the congregation after the services commenced. He uniformly spoke like 
one having authority, and laid down the law and the gospel, as he under- 
stood them, with great distinctness. 



748 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

COLONEL AE.THUR CAMPBELL. 

He was born in Augusta county in the year 1743. Entered the service 
of his country when a youth; was captured at Dickenson's Fort and carried 
into captivity by the Indians and kept for three years; returned to his 
home and moved to Holston settlements in 1765. Major in Fincastle mili- 
tia and member of the County Court of Fincaistle county; member of the 
House of Burgesses from Fincastle county; one of the original trustees of 
Washington College. County lieutenant and presiding justice of Wash- 
ington county for more than a quarter of a century. Represented Fin- 
castle county in the Convention of 1776 and Washington county many 
times thereafter in the General Assembly of the State. Made an effort to 
organize a new State west of the mountains in 1782-1785. He was a 
statesman and a patriot. 

Died at the present location of Middleborough, Ky., on August 8th, 1811. 

COLONEL WILLIAM RUSSELL. 

Born in Culpeper county in the year 1748. Settled near the Clinch river, 
south of Castle's Woods, about 1770, and built Russell's Fort. Commanded 
a company of frontiersmen at the battle of Point Pleasant in the fall of 
1774. Member of the House of Burgesses from Fincastle county in 1770. 
Commissioned captain in the Continental army, and accompanied Colonel 
Christian upon his expedition against the Cherokee Indians in 1776. Mem- 
ber of the General Assembly of Virginia in 1786, and introduced bill for 
formation of Russell county, Virginia. Brigadier-general of Virginia mili- 
tia. Married Mrs. Wm. Campbell, and for many years resided at Saltville, 
Virginia. Died in the year 1794 at the home of his son, Robert S. Russell, 
in Shenandoah county, Virginia. 

COLONEL WILLIAM COCKE. 

Colonel A\'m. Cocke was a son of Abraham Cocke, of Amelia county, ^^'as 
born in 1747, and died August 22d, 1828. He was an early pioneer of Ken- 
tucky; active in the formation of the "State of Franklin," and afterwards 
of Tennessee; served in two wars — the Revolution, in which he was a cap- 
tain, and the war of 1812, in which he volunteered, though an old man, and 
was a member of the Legislature in four States — Virginia, North Carolina. 
Tennessee and Mississippi. He was a member of the Virginia House of 
Delegates from \\'ashington county in 1777, and was United States Senator 
from Tennessee, 179G-'7, 1799-1805. He was afterwards a judge of the 
Circuit Court of Tennessee, and later removed to Mississijipi, where he died. 

MAJOR ANTHONY BLEDSOE. 

Born in Augnista county. Member of the County Court of Botetourt, Fin- 
castle and Washington counties. Officer in the militia of Fincastle and 
Washington counties. Built Bledsoc^'s I'ort. Itepresented Washington 
county in the General Assembly 1777-1778. Commanded Christian's army 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 749 

at Long Island from Dccembor, 1776, to April, 1777. Removed to Bledsuc"s 
Lick, near Nashville, Tennessee, where he was killed by the Indians. 

CAPTAIN WM. EDMISTON. 

Born in Aiioiista county. Served in the French-Indian war of 1734-17C3. 
Member of the comity courts of Fincastle and Washington counties. Officer 
in the militia of Washington and Fincastle counties. Received a grant of 
3,000 acres of land under the King's proclamation of 1763 for services ren- 
dered in the French-Indian war, and laid the grant in the community of 
Edmiston's Fort, in this county. Captain of a company on the expedition 
into South Carolina in October-, 1780. Was killed at the head of his com- 
pany in the battle of King's Mountain. 

COLONEL JOSEPH MARTIN. 

Son of English i)arents, who emigrated from Bristol, England, and set- 
tled in Albemarle county, Virginia. Colonel Martin was born in Albemarle 
county in the year 1740. Married Susanna Childs. Settled in Pittsylvania 
county, Virginia. In 1765 attempted the establishment of Martin's Sta- 
tion, in Powell's Valley, but was driven off by the Indians. Afterwards ap- 
pointed entry-taker by Colonel Richard Henderson for that portion of the 
Henderson purchase situated in Powell's Valley. Commanded a company of 
men upon Christian's expedition against the Cherokees in 1776. Appointed 
Indian agent and stationed at Long Island of Holston river, which position 
he occupied until the year 1789. Was a member of the Convention of North 
Carolina called for the adoption or rejection of the Federal Constitution, 
and several times a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina. 
About the year 1790 he returned to his old home in Henry county, Vir- 
ginia. Was soon thereafter elected to the General Assembly of Virginia 
from Heniy county, and continued to serve in that capacity imtil he him- 
.self thought he was by age unfit for further usefulness. Pied in 1808, in 
the sixty-eighth year of his age. 

GENERAL WD^L CAMPBELL. 

Was a native of Augusta county, of the true Caledonian race by the ma- 
ternal line as well as by that of the father. Being an only son, he received 
a liberal education under the best teachers of the times. He had an ardent 
mind, very susceptible of literary improvements, and acquired early in life 
a correct knowledge of tlie English language, of ancient and modern his- 
tory, and of several branches of mathematics. Nature had formed him for 
a commander in military capacity. His personal appearance was grave 
and masculine, being something about six feet high and well proportioned : 
in conversation rather reserved and thoughtful; in his written communica- 
tions expressive and elegant. His patriotism was not of a timid cast. He 
never balanced between his military duty and prudential maxims. When 
his ire was excited be showed in his countenance the fury of an Achilles. 
The trusty Andrefcrrara, the sword he wore on the day of battk-, was once 



'^50 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

the property of his grandfather from Scotland, and he had an arm and a 
spirit that could wield it with effect. In the year 1775 he was of the first 
regular troops raised in Virginia, being lionored with a captain's commis- 
sion in the first regiment. Here he acquired a practical knowledge of tac- 
tics and the discipline of an army. In the latter part of the year 1776 he 
resigned his position on account of the Indian war breaking out, by which 
his family and friends were exposed to immediate danger. Soon after he 
was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the militia of Washington county, 
and the next year, on the resignation of Evan Shelby, Sr., to that of colonel 
of the regiment. In this rank he remained until after the battle of King's 
Mountain and of Guilford, when he was appointed by a vote of the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia to rank as a brigadier-general, and was ordered to join the 
Marquis LaFayette, to oppose the invasion of the enemy in 1781. After 
the defeat of Ferguson, the British general, Cornwallis, imbibed a personal 
resentment, and had the temerity to theaten that- if General Campbell fell 
into his hands he would have him instantly put to death for his rigor 
against the Tories. This, instead of intimidating, had the contrary effect, 
and in turn the American general resolved, if the fortune of war should 
place Cornwallis in his power, he should meet the fate of Ferguson. This 
a^ the battle of Guilford had nearly been the case, for had all the militia 
behaved with the same firmness and courage as on the wing where General 
Campbell commanded, the British army must have met with a total defeat. 
On forming the army in Virginia, under Marquis LaFayette, in 1781, 
General Campbell became a favorite of that gallant nobleman, who gave 
him command of the brigade of light infantry and riflemen. A few weeks 
before the siege of Yorktown he took sick of a complaint in his breast, 
which obliged him to retire from the army to a friend's house in the coun- 
try, and there, after a short sickness, to end his days, in the thirty-sixth 
year of his age, much lamented by the friends of liberty who knew him. 
Of his military character we have given a short sketch. His moral senti- 
ments and social demeanor in civil life were exemplary. Although an only 
son and heir to a considerable property, he never gave way to the fashion- 
able follies of young men of fortune. He well knew that vice at any time 
of life, or in any shape, darkens the understanding, perverts the will, and 
thus injures social order in every grade of society. He kept a strict guard 
on his own passions, and was by some deemed too severe in punishing the 
deviations of others. His military career was short, but brilliant. Warren 
and Montgomery acted at a conspicuous stage, and deserved the eulogisms 
so often repeated. Campbell undertook a no les^ arduous task, with an 
inferior nvmiber of undLseiplined militia. He marched in a few days nearly 
two hundred miles, over vast mountains, in search of the enemy, who were 
commanded by an experienced officer, of known bravery and military skill, 
and who had chosen his field for battle. It was at (King's Mountain) rather 
a fortification than an open space for combatants to meet upon. The as- 
sault of the Americans was impetuous and irresistible, and the event was a 
victory to a wish. This victory resulted in the retreat of the main British 
army a considerable distance and their relinquishment of the scheme of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 751 

invading Virginia that year. It also reanimated all the friends of liberty 
in the Southern States, and was the prelude of adverse events to the enemy, 
which, in the course of the next campaign, terminated in their final over- 
throw.* 

COLONEL WILLIAM PRESTON". 

Son of John Preston, of Augusta county. Born in Ireland 1730, and died 
at Smithfield, now Blacksburg, 1783. One of the first trustees of Staunton. 
INIember the House of Burgesses from Augusta county 1766-1768, and from 
Botetourt county 1769. Commanded a company of Rangers in the French- 
Indian war 1754-1763. On the formation of Botetourt county, 1769, he 
Avas appointed colonel of the militia, coroner, escheator and county sur- 
veyor. Upon the formation of Fincastle county he was appointed sheriff 
and surveyor. He was engaged with Colonels Campbell and Christian in 
their expeditions against the Cherokees in the year 1776. Was at the battles 
of Whitsill's Mills and Guilford Courthouse, 1781, and was actively en- 
gaged throughout the Revolution. He was a member of the Committee of 
Safety of Fincastle county, and assisted in the preparation of the Fincastle 
Resolutions. He left eleven children, all of whom, both male and female, 
became distinguished in the history of our country. His five sons were 
John, Francis, James, William and Thomas, and his six daughters were 
Mrs. Thomas Madison, Mrs. Thomas McDowell, Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Thomas 
Lewis and Mrs. John Floyd. One son and one of his sons-in-law became 
governors of Virginia. 

COLONEL JAMES KING. 

The subject of this sketch was born at Londonderiy, Ireland, in 1752. 
He was well educated, and emigrated to Virginia about the year 1769, and 
by purchase, entry and condemnation acquired about 50,000 acres of land 
in and around Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia, of the present day. Colonel 
King married Sarah, one of the seven daughters of Colonel Thomas Good- 
son, in IVIontgomery county, Virginia, and settled a few miles southwest 
of Bristol near the Sulphur Springs. Colonel King won his title through 
the Revolutionary war. Was captured and escaped and rejoined his regi- 
ment, and after some time resigned his commission and returned to his 
home, near Bristol, rather than deliver to the quartermaster a magnificent 
mare from which he had knocked a British od'icer, but subsequcnlly re- 
joined his regiment, and was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. 
Colonel King some time previous to the year 1800 erected an iron furnace 
(Barbary Furnace) near the Snli)hur Springs, and made the first iron in 
what is now the State of Tennessee. Colonel King's partner in this 
enterprise was Governor Blount, of the Southwest Territory. The iron 
made at this furnace was hauled in wagons to Kingsport, a distance of 
twenty-five miles, the junction of the North and South forks of Holston 
river, and transported from that point by water. Kingsport took its name 



♦Colonel Arthur Campbell. 



753 Southwest Virginia, 174G-17S6. 

from Colonel King. Some time previous to the year 1810 Colonel King 
purchased from Isaac Shelby, executor of General Evan Shelby, 976 acres 
of land, one-half the Sapling Grove tract, lor $10,000, and it is said that the 
backs of two horses were ruined in carrying this silver to Frankfort, Ken 
tucky, the home of General Isaac Shelby. Colonel King afterwards had this 
property conveyed to his son, the Rev. James King. Colonel King was a 
very active and useful man. He was one of the three commissioners who 
negotiated the treaty of Holston, and afterwards laid off the site of Knox- 
ville, Tennessee. He was a man of considerable wealth, and furnished An- 
drew Jackson (afterwards President of the United States) the money witli 
which Jackson and John Overton purchased the Chickasavir Bluff (now tlie 
site of the city of Memphis, Tennessee). The draft for this money is as 
follows : 

Col. James Kiiig, 
Sir: 

Please pay to Mr. Andrew Jackson or order two thousand five 
hundred one dollars sixty-seven cents which place to account of 
Sir 

Your Ob. Servant, 

David AUismi 

Dolls. 2501 67-100 May 13th, 179.5. 

Colonel King died of gout August 17tli, 1825, aged seventy-three years, 
leaving three children, to-wit: Itev. James King, who married Mourning 
Micajah Watkins, daughter of the Hon. Micajah Watkins, of Halifax 
county; William King and Sarah King. 

Colonel King was buried five miles west of Bristol, under an old coffin 
shaped tomb of rock and an iron slab, on which the following inscriptidu 
is cast: 

Col. James King 

Dec'd 

Aug. 17th 1825 

Aged 73 years 

A Patriot 

of 

1776. 

The Rev. James King above mentioned was a distinguished Presbyterian 
divine, a man of considerable wealth, the founder of Bristol, Tennessee, and 
of King College. He left a large family of children. 

None but the wealthy in the early days of our country could afford a 
four-wheel carriage. The Rev. James King, Jr., was the owner of such a 
carriage, and below is given a receipt for tlie taxes assessed bj' tlie Federal 
Government upon this luxury : 

This is to certify that James King, Jr., in llie county of Sullivan, in the 
first collection district of Tennessee, has paid the duty of Thirty dollars, 
for the year to end on t)ie 3 1st day of December next, for and upon a four- 



Washington Comity, 1777-1870. 753 

wheel carriage, called a "Coachee," owned hy liim, and the harness used 
therefor. 

Til is certificate to be of no avail any longer than the aforesaid carriage 
shall be owned by the .said James King, Jr., unless said certificate shall be 
produced to a collector, and an entry be made thereon, specifying the name 
of the then owner of said carriage, and the time when he became possessed 
thereof. 

Given in conformity with the laws of the United States this 2nd day of 
February, 1818. 

NATHAN GREGG, 
Deputy Collector of the Revenue, &c. 

GENERAL WM. E. JONES. 

The subject of this sketch was bom on the Middle Fork of Holston river, 
in the upper end of Washington county, on the 3d day of May, 1824. He 
was the son of Robert Jones and wife (formerly a Miss Edmondson). He 
was educated at Emory and Henry College and at the Military Academy, 
West Point, New York, from which institution he 
graduated in 1848, and was commissioned second 
lieutenant in the Mounted Rifles, and for three 
years served in that capacity in what was after- 
wards the State of Oregon. On January 13th, 1852, 
while on a furlough, he was united in marriage to 
Miss Eliza M. Dunn, a daughter of Dr. Samuel 
Dunn, of tlijs county. Mrs. Jones was accidentally 
drowned at Pass Cubolla, Texas, on the 20th of 
March, 18.52, while on her way with her husband to 
^"Hf join his command in the West. In 1857 he resigned 

his command in the United States army, and after 

Gen. Wm. K. .Jones . ^ • +, m^ w n 

visiting many places of interest in the Old World 

he returned to his father's estate, near Glade Spring, and with the assist- 
ance of several French and German emigrants he planted an extensive vine- 
yard, and was so engaged when the war between the States began. He or- 
ganized a cavalry company in the spring of 1801, numbering 102 officers 
and men, to which was given the name of the \\'ashington Mounted Rifles, 
afterwards Company D of the First Virginia Cavalry. In September, 1801, 
he wa.s commissioned colonel of the First Virginia Cavalry, whicli position 
he held until April, 18G2, when he was assigned to the command of the 
Seventh Virginia Cavalry, General Turner Ashby's old regiment, and was 
succeeded in the command of the First Virginia Cavalry by Fitzhugh Lee. Jn 
September, 18G2, he was commissioned brigadier-general, and was assigned 
to a command in the Valley of Virginia, a serious disagreement arising be- 
tween Generals Stuart and Jones. General Jones was assigned to the 
command of the Department of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee, 
and arrived upon the scene during the battle at Blountville. Shortly there- 
after he surprised the enemy near Rogersville, Tenn., and captiin-d from 
ei'^ht to nine hundred prisoners. He was at tlie siege of Knoxville willi 




754 Southwest Virginia, 17J,G-178G. 

General Longstreet, and during the same fall and winter he surprised and 
routed the Federal force of about six hundred officers and men vstationed in 
Lee county. In the spring of 18G4 his command took part in the battle of 
Cloyd's Mountain, in Pulaski county. From Cloyd's Mountain he was or- 
dered to the Valley of Virginia to oppose the advance of the Federal forces 
under command of General Hunt. General Jones, with the infantiy force 
he had at his command, advanced rapidly to Staunton, and from Staunton 
to Mt. Hope. At this point his forces were attacked by General Hunter, 
and every indication pointed to the success of the Confederate arms, 
when General Jones indiscreetly rushed into the hottest of the fight to rally 
and encourage some of his men, when he was shot and fell from his horse 
dead. In a moment all was confusion, and the Confederates were routed. 
And thus ended the battle of Piedmont. 

General Jones was directly descended from one of the Edmiston families, 
whose ancestor participated in the battle of King's Mountain, and was one 
of the bravest and most striking figures tliat Washington county has ever 
produced. 

His remains were interred in the cemetery of the Old Glade Spring Pres- 
byterian church, and his grave is marked by a plain marble shaft, which 
bears the following inscription: 

Gen. Wm. E. Jones, 

killed 

June 5th, 1864, 

In the battle at Piedmont, Virginia, 

aged 

40 years and 27 days. 

JAMES L. WHITE. 

The subject of this sketch is the son of Wm. Y. C. White and his wife, 
Margaret Greenway. Was born at Carpet Hill, Abingdon, Va., the home of 
his father, on the 29th of August, 1842. Was edu- 
cated at the Abingdon Academy and University of 
Virginia. Was a student at the University of Vir- 
ginia in the spring of 1861, joined a company at 
the University and went to Harper's Ferry in the 
spring of that year. Became lieutenant of Captain 
J. F. Mcllhaney's company (Russell county) in the 
Thirty-seventh Virginia Regiment, and became adju- 
tant of the Thirty-seventh Virginia Regiment. Af- 
terwards served on the staff of General Wm. Terry. 
Wounded at Appomattox Springs a few days before 
the surrender, and was left upon the battle-field and 
James L. White. thought to be dead. Afterwards recovered and re- 

turned to his home. After the close of the war he studied law, and gradu- 
ated in this profession from Washington and Lee University. Was licensed 
and began the practice of law in Abingdon, and in the spring of 1870 was 
elected Commonwealth's Attorney for this county by 1,600 majority. 




Washington County, 1777-1870. 



756 



Since that time has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession, 
and has attained that position where it may be said of him that he is the 
peer of any lawyer to be found in our country. A high-toned, honorable 
gentleman, an honor to his country and a credit to his profession. Early 
in life he married Miss Kate Robertson, daughter of Governor Wyndham 
Robertson, and they have reared a lai'ge family of sons and daughters. 



MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 



ANDREW MOORE. 
Was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia. Received an academical eau 
cation. Was elected a representative from Virginia in the First Congress, 
and was reelected to the Second, Third and Fourth Congresses, serving from 
March, 1789 to 1797. Successfully contested the election of Thos. Lewis in 
the Eighth Congress, serving from March, 1804, to Nov;nber 6, 1804, when lie 
was appointed a United States Senator from Virginia (in place of Wilson 
Cary Nicholas, resigned ) . Was subsequently elected a United States Senator 
(in place of Abraham B. Venable, resigned), serving from December 17, 1804, 
to March 3, 1809. Served in the Continental army, his company forming a 
part of Morgan's Corps at the battle of Saratoga. Member of the conven- 
tion that ratified the Constitution of the United States in 1788. Many 
times a member of the Legislature from Rockbridge county. Brigadier- 
general of militia, and in 1809 was appointed a major-general of militia. 
In the year 1810 he was appointed United States Marshal for the State of 
Virginia, and served in that position to the date of his death, which oc- 
curred on the 24th of May, 1821. 

FRANCIS PRESTON. 

Son of Colonel Wm. Preston, of Smithfield. Was 
born at Greenfield (now Botetourt county) on the 
2a day of August, 1765. Graduated at William and 
Mary College and studied law under Chancellor 
Wytlie. Settled in Abingdon and began the prac- 
tice of law, and was for many years recognized as 
one of the ablest lawyers in this section of the 
*^Si^V\ \ ^ State. Married Sarah Buchanan Campbell, daugh- 
Col. Francis Preston. ter of General William Campbell, on the 10th 
January, 1793. Elected a member of Congress in the same year, and 
served till the year 1797. After retiring from Congress he settled at the 
Saltworks. In the year 1810 he removed to Abingdon. Elected to the 
General Assembly from Washington county. Was commissioned a colonel, 
and marched with his regiment to Norfolk in 1814. He was elected briga- 
dier-general of militia by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1820. He 
died at the home of Wm. C. Preston, in South Carolina, on the 26th day of 
May, 1830, and his remains were interred at Aspinvale, near Seven-Mile 
Ford. He left a family of children, all of whom became distinguished, 




756 Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 

viz., United States Senator Wm. C. Preston, of Smitli Carolina; General 
John S. Preston, of South Carolina; Thomas L. Preston, University of Vir- 
ginia; Mrs. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina; Mrs. Robert J. Brecken- 
ridge, of Kentucky; Mrs. General Carrington, of Albemarle county; Mrs. 
John B. Floyd, of Washington county; Mrs. James McDowell, of Virginia; 
Mrs. John M. Preston, of Abingdon.* 

ABRAM TRIGG. 

Born in Montgomery county, Virginia. Was elected a representative 
from Virginia in the Fifth Congress. Was reelected to the Sixth, Seventh, 
Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Congresses, serving from ]\Iay 15th, 1797, lo 
March 3d, 1809. 

DANIEL SHEFFEY. 

Was born at Frederick, Maryland, in 1770. Was bred a shoemaker in his 
father's shop, but became proficient in astronomical and mathematical 
studies. Arriving at manhood, he walked into Virginia, carrying his tools, 
and finally located at Abingdon. Studied law under Alexander Smyth. 
Was admitted to the bar, and soon enjoyed a lucrative practice. Was 
elected from Augusta county to the House of Delegates. Was elected a 
representative from Virginia to the Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth and 
Fourteenth Congresses as a Federalist, sei-ving from May 22d, 1809, to 
March 3d, 1817. Died in Augusta county, Virginia, December 3d, 1830. 

ALEXANDER SMYTH. 

Alexander Smyth was born on the Island of Rothlin, Ireland, in 17G5. 
Emigrated to the United States in 1775, and located in Botetourt county, 
Virginia. Received an academic education. Studied law, was admitted to 
the bar in 1789, and commenced practice at Abing- 
don. Removed in 1792 to Wythe countj'. Was a 
member of the State House of Representatives in 
1792, 1796, 1800, 1804-1808. Was appointed by 
President Jefferson colonel of a United States rifiu 
regiment, which he commanded at the Southwest 
until 1811, when he was ordered to Washington to 
prepare a discipline for the army. Was appointed 
inspector-general in 1812 and ordered to the Cana- 
dian frontier, where he failed in an invasion of 
Canada and left the army. Resumed his practice. 

, ^ ,, Was appointed a member of the State Board of 

Alexander Smvth. ,-.,,• ttt i 

Public Works. Was again elected to the State 

House of Representatives. Was elected a representative from Virginia in 

the Fifteenth Congresis, receiving 1,443 votes, against 711 votes for 

Estill. Was reelected to the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth 

Congresses, serving from December 1st, 1817, to March 3d, 1825. Was again 




*Three of liis sons-in-law were Governors, one of South Carolina and two of 
Virginia. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 757 

elected to the Twentieth Congress, receiving 2,604 votes, against 991 votes 
tor Sharp, and was reelected to the Twenty-first Congress, sen-ing from 
December 3d, 1827, to April 17, 1830, when he died at Washington city. 
He published "Regulations of United States Infantry" and "Remarks on 
the Apocalypse." General Smyth had four children — Harold, Alexander, 
Malvina and Frances. Malvina married Captain John P. Matthews, who 
was for many years clerk of Wythe County Court and a member of the 
State Constitutional Convention 1829-1830. Frances married Captain 
James H. Piper, who at one time represented the Wythe district in the 
State Senate. Colonel Piper had the distinction of climbing the Natural 
Bridge in Virginia. 

JOSEPH DRAPER. 

Son of John and Jane Crockett Draper. Born in Draper's Valley De- 
cember 2oth, 1794. Enlisted as a private in the war of 1812-1814. Studied 
law under Daniel Sheffey, and was admitted to the bar at Wytheville in 1818. 
His fame as an orator came with his first case in court, and it is said that 
he was one of the most brilliant speakers of his day. 
In 1820 he married Margaret Sawyers, a daughter or 
John T. Sawyers, of Max Meadows, Va. In 1828 he 
was elected to the State Senate over General James 
Hoge, of Pulaski. He was elected to Congress to fill 
the vacancy occasioned by the death of General Smyth, 
in 1830, and was again elected to fill the vacancy oc 
casioned by the death of Chas. C. Johnston, in 1832. 
While in Congress he was a warm friend and great 
admirer of John C. Calhoun, and was on the friend- 
liest terms with his colleague and cousin, David 
Crockett, of Texas. He was a great friend of Daniel 
Webster, with whom he was associated in a number Joseph Draper, 
of cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. He died on June 
10th, 1834, aged forty years. 

OHAHLES C. JOHNSTON. 

Son of Judge Peter Johnston. Was bom at Panicello, near Abingdon. 
Received an academic education. Studied law, was admitted to the bar, and 
commenced practice at Abingdon. Was elected a representative from Vir- 
ginia in the Twenty-second Congress, serving from December 5th, 1831, to 
June 17th, 1832, when he went to Alexandria, Virginia, to visit a friend, 
and on his return at night he fell from the wharf into the Potomac river 
and was drowned. Mr. Johnston was a brilliant orator and splendid law- 
yer. He left two children — John Preston Johnston, who was killed in the 
Mexican war, and Mrs. Eliza M. Hughes, wife of Judge Robert W. Hughes. 

JOHN H. FULTON. 

Born in Augusta coimty. Educated at Hampden-Sidney College. Studied 
law under Judge Baldwin, of Staunton. Located in Abingdon. AdpjittecJ 




758 Southivest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

to the bar. Elected to the House of Delegates from Washington county 
1823-1824. Represented tlie Washington district in the Senate of Virginia 
1829-1831. Was elected to tlie Twenty-third Congress as a Whig, receiving 
2,621 votes, against 1,257 for Wm. Byars, Democrat, serving from Decem- 
ber 2d, 1833, to March 3d, 1835. Was a candidate for reelection when he 
died, in January, 1836, his opponent in this election being George W. Hop- 
kins, pis remains were interred in the Sinking Spring Cemetery, Abing- 
don, Va., and his grave is at this day marked by a large iron slab, upon 
which is the following inscription: 

" Tread not upon his ashes, 
For he was the poor man's friend." 

Notwithstanding this inscription, a path through the cemetery passes al- 
most directly over this grave. 

GEORGE W. HOPKINS. 

George W. Hopkins was born in Goochland county, Virginia, February 
22d, 1804. Received a public school education. Taught school in Smyth 
county. Studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at 
Lebanon, Virginia. Was a member of the State House of Representatives 
1833-1834. Was elected a representative from Virginia 
in the Twenty-fourth Congress as a Democrat, defeating 
John H. Fulton. WaiS reelected to the Twenty-fifth Con- 
gress, receiving 1,475 majority over John N. Humes, 
Whig. Was reelected to the Twenty-sixth Congress, re- 
ceiving 2,821 votes, against 2,308 votes for George, 
Whig. Was reelected to the Twenty-seventh Congress. 
W"as reelected to the Twenty-eighth Congress, receiving 
about 1,000 majority over Fulton, Whig. Wais reelected 
George W.Hopkins. *^ *^^ Twenty-ninth Congress, serving from December 
7th, 1835, to March 3d, 1847. Was charge d'affaires to 
Portugal March 3d, 1847, to October 18, 1849. Was again a member of the 
State House of Representatives in 1849. Was a judge of the Circuit Court. 
Was again elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress, receiving 5,318 votes, against 
5,249 votes for Martin, American, serving from December 7th, 1857, to 
March 3d, 1859. WaiS again elected a member of the State House of Rep- 
resentatives, and died March 2, 1861. Was elected a member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention 1850, but in the fall of that year resigned and was 
elected Speaker of the House of Delegates of Virginia. 

ANDREW S. FULTON. 
Born in Augusta county September, 1800. Educated at Hampden-Sidney 
College. Studied law in the office of Judge Baldwin, in Staunton, Virginia. 
Located in Abingdon, Virginia, in 1825. Removed to Wytheville in 1828. 
Represented Wythe county one term in the Legislature. Was several time.s 
Commonwealth's Attorney of Wythe. Elected to the Thirtieth Congress as 




Washitigton County, 1777-1870. 



,759 



a Whig, receiving 2,084, against 2,078 votes for McMullen, Democrat, and 
serving from December 6th, 1847, to March 3d, 1849, and in the year 1852 
was elected judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit 
of Virginia, and held this position for seventeen 
years. He died in November, 1884. 

FAYETTE McMULLEN. 

Was born in Scott county, Virginia. Received an 
academic education. Was a stage driver by pro- 
fession. Was elected to the Senate of Virginia from 
the W^ashington district in the year 1838, and 
served till the year 1849. Was elected as a repre- 
sentative of Virginia in the Thirty-first Congress as 
a Democrat, receiving 4,421 votes, against 2,155 
votes for George, Whig. Was reelected to the 
Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses, having 
no opposition. Was reelected to the Thirty-fourth Congress, receiving 7,383 
votes, against 3,982 votes for Connally F. Trigg, American, serving from 
December 3d, 1849, to March 3d, 1857. Was appointed 
by President Buchanan Governor of Washington Ter- 
ritory, serving 1857-1861. Was elected a representa- 
tive in the Second Confederate Congress from Vir- 
ginia, serving from February 22d, 1864, to the over- 
throw of the Confederacy. Was many times a candi- 
date for Congress subsequently to the war, and died in 
the year 1881, having been killed on the railroad near 
Marion, Virginia. 




Andrew S. Fulton. 




ELBERT S. MARTIN. 
Born in Indiana. Removed to Lee county, and was 




Elbert H Martin 



Fayette McMullen. 

reared in Jonesville. Educated at Emory and Henry 
College; married Martha Dickenson in 1852. Was a 
merchant by profession. Was elected to the Thirty- 
sixth Congress as an American, receiving 6,382 votes, 
against 5,579 votes for Ben Rush Floyd, Democrat, 
serving from December 5th, 1859, to March 3d, 1861. 
Was elected captain of the first company that left 
Jonesville for the Confederate service, and remained 
in the service until the surrender. Emigrated to 
Texas in 1870, and died in the city of Dallas on Sep- 
tember 3d, 1870. His daughter, Mrs. Dr. M. L. Stal- 
lard, now lives at Norton, Va. 



WALTER PRESTON. 

Son of John M. Preston. Born in Abingdon, Virginia. Educated for the 
bar. He became distinguished in his profession as a lawj'er and an orator. 



760 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 



Candidate for Attorney-General of Virginia previously to the war between 
the States. Was elected to the Confederate Congress in November, 1861, 
defeating Fayette McMullen. Died shortly after the war. 




JAMES KING GIBSON. 

Son of John and Amelia C. Gibson. Born in Abingdon February 18th, 
1812. Received a common school education, and was brought up in a store. 
Went to Limestone county, Alabama, in 1833, and engaged in mercantile 
pursuits. Returned to Virginia, and was deputy 
sheriff of Washington county in 1834, and again in 
1835. Was a merchant in Abingdon from 1835 to 
1840. Was postmaster at Abingdon (a distribu- 
ting oiBce) from 1838 to 1849, by the appoint- 
ments of Presidents Van Buren, Tyler and Polk. 
Was appointed teller and clerk in the branch of 
the Exchange Bank of Virginia at Abingdon in 
1849; also notary public, and held all these offices 
until after the war, when he became a farmer, and 
was elected a representative from Virginia in the 
Forty-first Congress as a Democrat, receiving 
James King Gibson. 14,508 votes, against 5,966 votes for Smith, Radi- 
cal, serving from January 28th, 1870, to March 3d, 1871. Died March 30th, 
1879. 

WILLIAM TERRY. 

William Terry was born in Amherst county, Virginia, August 14th, 1824. 
Received a classical education, graduating at the University of Virginia in 
1848. Taught school. Studied law, was admitted to 
the bar, and commenced practice at W^ytheville in 
September, 1851. Was for some eighteen months on.; 
of the editors and proprietors of the Telegraph. Was 
in the military service of Virginia in the "John 
Brown raid" in 1859. Entered the Confederate army 
in April, 1861, aiS lieutenant in the Fourth Virginia 
Infantry, "Stonewall Brigade." Served during the 
war, and by successive promotions attained the rank 
of brigadier-general March 20th, 1864. Was elected a 
representative from Virginia in the Forty-second 
Congress as a Conservative, receiving 10,398 votes, 
against 4,384 votes for F. McMullen, Independent 
Democrat, and 3,922 votes for R. W. Hughes, Republican, serving from 
March 4th, 1871, to March 3d, 1873. Was again elected to the Forty-fourth 
Congress as a Conservative, receiving 8,052 votes, against 1,821 votes for 
G. W. Henderlite, Repviblican, and 6,760 votes for F. McMullen, Independent, 
serving from December 6th, 1875, to March 3d, 1877. He was accidentally 
drowned in Wohlford's Ford, Reed Creek, two miles south of Wytheville, 
when retuining from Grayson County Court, the 5th of September, 1888. 




Willmm Terry 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



,761 




REES T. BOWEN. 

Was born at Maiden Spring, Tazewell county, Virginia, January 10th, 
1809. Received an academical education at home and at the Abingdon 
Academy. Was a farmer and grazier. Married Maria Louisa Peery, Janu- 
ary 13, 1835. Was appointed brigadier-general of Virginia militia by Gov- 
ernor Wise. Represented Tazewell county in the 
Legislature of Virginia in 1863-1864. Was elected 
to the Forty-third Congress as a Conservative, re- 
ceiving 10,352 votes, against 5,304 votes for R. W. 
Hughes, serving from December 1st, 1873, to March 
3d, 1875. Died August 29th, 1879. Was a direct 
lineal descendant of Lieutenant Rees Bowen, who 
was killed at the battle of King's Mountain. 

A. L. PRIDEMORE. 

Was born in Scott county, Virginia, June 27th, 
1837. Was brought up on a farm. By his own exer- 
tions, alternately teaching and going to school, he at- 
tained a fair English education. In August, 1861, 
he raised a company of volunteer infantry, and served 
as its captain until 1862, when he was promoted to 
major of the Twenty-first Battalion of Virginia In- 
fantry. Was again promoted in December, 1862, to lieu- 
tenant-colonel of infantry, and in October, 1803, colo- 
nel of cavalry, and commanded the Sixty-fourth Vir- 
ginia Cavalry until the close of the war. Was elected 
a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 
March, 1865, but the close of the war prevented him 
from taking his seat. Commenced the study of law in 
1865. Was admitted to the bar and practised at Jones- 
ville. Was a member of the Virginia State Senate 1871- 
1875, and was elected a representative from Virginia 

in the Forty-second Congress as a Democrat, receiv- 
ing 15,127 votes, against 4,791 votes for George T. 
Egbert, Republican, serving from March 3d, 
1877, to 1879. Died at his home, in Jonesville, Lee 
county, May 17th, 1900. 



Rees T. Bowen. 




A L. Piidenioie. 




JAMES BUCHANAN RICHMOND. 

Was born in Turkey Cove, Lee county, Virginia, on 
the 27th day February, 1847. Received a limited 
education at Emoiy and Henry (College. Practised 
law in the circuit and county courts of Lee, Scott 
and Wise counties, Virginia, and in the Court of 
Ajjpeals at Wytheville, Virginia. Held tlie office of orderly sergeant and 
:i|)laiii iif Company "A," Fiftieth Virginia Infantry, during the first year 



James B. Richmond. 



762 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 




Col.Abniiii Fulkcr&oii 



of the war, in the command of General John B. Floyd, of Virginia. Wa-s 
afterwards major of the Sixty-fourth Virginia Regiment for a time. Was 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel, Sixty-fourth Virginia Regiment, some time 
before the close of the war, and was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress as 
a Democrat, receiving 5,120 votes, against 4,829 votes for Fayette McMullen, 
Independent; 4,640 votes for Samuel W. Newberry, Independent, and 613 
votes for Camp, Republican. Was a member of the House of Delegates from 
Scott county in 1873. Judge of the County Court of 
Scott county for six years, beginning in the year 1885. 
Advocated sound money in his candidacy for Congress 
in the year 1877. W^as a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1901-1902. Now actively practicing law 
at Gate City, Virginia. 

COLONEL ABRAM FULKERSON. 

Colonel Fulkerson was born on the 13th day of May, 
1834, four miles north of Bristol, in Washington county, 
Virginia. His father was Abram Fulkerson, a captain 
in the war of 1812, and his mother was Margaret Vance. 
He graduated at the Virginia Military Institute in 1857. Taught school at 
Palmyra, Virginia, and at Rogersville, Tennessee, and was at the latter 
place when the civil war began. He raised a company in Hawkins county, 
Tennessee, and joined the Ninth Tennessee Regiment at Knoxville, and was 
elected major of the regiment. Was severely woiuided at the battle of 
Shiloh. He assisted in organizing the Sixty-third Tennessee Regiment, and 
was commissioned colonel on the 12th day of February, 1864, and was again 
wounded at the battle of Chickamauga. In 1866 he began the practice of 
law, and rapidly rose to the front ranks. He was elected to the Virginia 
House of Delegates in 1871-1873; to the Senate of Virginia in 1877-1879. 
Was elected to the Forty-seventh Congress as a Re- 
adjuster, receiving 8,096 votes, against 7,621 votes 
for C. F. Trigg, Funder; 3,640 votes for G. G. 
Goodell, Republican, and 500 votes for Fayette Mc- 
Mullen, Independent. He died on December 17th, 
1902, at his home, in Bristol, Virginia. 

HENRY BOWEN. 

Son of Rees T. Bowen. Was born at Maiden 
Spring, Tazewell county, Virginia, December 26th, 
1841. Received a collegiate education. Entered 
the Confederate army in 1861; served continuously 
most of the time as captain of cavalry in Payne's 
Brigade, Lee's Division, Army of Northern Virginia, until December 21st, 
1864, when he was captured in a night attack by Sheridan's cavalry at Lacy 
Springs, Virginia. When released from Fort Delaware, Delaware, Juno 
19th, 1865, returned to Virginia and engaged in farming and grazing. In 




Henry Bowen. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



763 



1869 was elected to the Virginia Legislature, and reelected in 1871. In 
1882 was elected to Congress as a Readjuster, and was elected to the Fiftieth 
Congress as a Republican, receiving 13,497 votes, against 9,927 votes for 
R. R. Henry, Democrat. 




Connally F. Tn, 



CONNALLY F. TRIGG. 
Was born at Abingdon September 18th, 1847. Is a lawyer. Was elected 
Commonwealth's Attorney for Washington county in 1872, which position 
he held until he resigned in 1884. Was elected to the 
Forty-ninth Congress as a Democrat, receiving 13,844 
votes, against 12,650 votes for D. F. Bailey, Republi- 
can. 

JOHN ALEXAM)ER BUCHANAN. 
Was born October 7th, 1843. Was a private in the 
Stonewall Brigade, Confederate army. Was taken 
prisoner at Gettysburg July 3d, 1863, and remained 
in prison until February, 1865. Graduated from 
Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia, June, 
1870. Studied law at the University of Virginia, 
1870-1871. Was a member of the House of Delegates 

of Virginia from 1885 until 1887. Was elected to the 

Fiftj^-first Congress as a Democrat, receiving 16,520 

votes, against 16,042 votes for Henry Bowen, Repub- 
lican. Was reelected to the Fifty-second Congress by 

an overwnelming majority; declined a renomination, 

and was soon thereafter elected judge of the Court of 

Appeals of Virginia, which position he now occupies. 

JAMES W. MARSHALL. 

Mr. Marshall was born in Augusta county, Vir- 
ginia, March 31st, 1844. Served as a private soldier 
for four years in Confederate army commanded by 
General R. E. Lee. Attended Roanoke College part 
of two sessions, and graduated from same in 1870. Studied law and was 
admitted to the bar. Was elected Commonwealth's Attorney for Craig 
county in 1870; scned until 1875. Elected to Virginia Senate in 1875, and 
served four years. Elected a member of the General Assembly of Virginia 
in 1882-1883. Elected Commonwealth's Attorney for Craig county in 1884, 
and served until 1888. Was a presidential elector on the Cleveland and 
Thurman ticket in 1888. Elected to the Virginia Senate in 1891 for a term 
of four*years, and was elected to the Fifty-third Congress as a Democrat, 
receiving 18,431 votes, against 12,699 votes for H. C. Wood, Republican; 
1,709 votes for George W. Cowan, People's party, and 135 votes scattering. 
Elected a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention 1901-1902. 
Now practising law at Newcastle, Craig county, Virginia. 




John A. Hiiclianan. 



764 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



JAMES ALEXANDER WALKER. 

Was born in Augusta county, Virginia, August 27th, 1832. Was edu- 
cated at the Virginia Military Institute. Studied law at the University of 
Virginia during the sessions of 1854 and 1855. Began the practice of law in 
Pulaski county, Virginia, in 1856, and followed the practice of his profes- 
sion until his death, which occurred on October 20th, 
1901. Entered the Confederate army in April, 1861, 
as captain of the Pulaski Guards, afterwards Com- 
pany C, Fourth Virginia Infantry, Stonewall Brigade. 
Was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and assigned to 
the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry (A. P. Hill, colonel) 
in July, 1861. Promoted to colonel of the Thirteenth 
Virginia Infantry in March, 1862, and May, 1863, was 
promoted to brigadier-general and assigned to com- 
mand of the "Stonewall Brigade." Commanded 
Early's old division at the surrender at Appomattox. 
Was severely wounded at Spotsylvania Courthouse 
May 12th, 1864. Elected Commonwealth's Attorney 
for Pulaski county in 1860. Represented Pulaski county in the House of 
Delegates of Virginia in 1871-1872. Was elected Lieutenant-Governor of 
Virginia in 1877. Removed to Wytheville, where he practiced his profes- 
sion. Was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress as a Republican, defeating 
Judge H. S. K. Morrison, of Scott covmty, Democrat, by about 1,000 ma- 
jority, and was reelected to the Fifty-fifth Congress, receiving 16,077 votes, 
against 14,900 votes for S. W. Williams, Democrat. 




James A. Walker. 



WILLIAM FRANCIS RHEA. 

Was bom in Washington county, Virginia, forty-seven years ago. Worked 
on a farm and attended oldfield School until sixteen years of age. Attended 
college about three years, then studied law and was admitted to the bar. 
Soon afterwards was elected judge of the County Court of Washington 
county. Served four years, and was then elected to the State Senate. 
Served four years, and was then elected judge of the 
City Court of Bristol. In 1895 resigned the city 
judgeship and resumed the practice of law. Was 
imanimously nominated by the Democratic party and 
elected to the Fifty-sixth Congress, and was reelected 
to the Fifty-seventh Congress, receiving 20,163 votes, 
to 18,412 for James A. Walker, Republican. 

CAMPBELL SLEMP. 




Camphell Sh'nip. 



Was Ijorn in Lee county, Virginia, December 2d. 
1839. Until 1880 was allied with the Democratic 
party. Was reared on a farm, and has been a farmer most of his life, being 
also engaged in the live-stock business and in trading in coal and timber 



Washington Counhj, 1777-1870. 765 

lands. Was a student at Emory and Henry College, Virginia, but did nul 
graduate, owing to the death of his father. Served in the Confederate 
army as captain and lieutenant-colonel in the Twenty-first Virginia Bat- 
talion, and as colonel of the Sixty-fourth Regiment, which was both infantry 
and cavalry. Was elected to the Houjse of Delegates in 1879 and 1881; was 
defeated by forty votes in 1883. Ran for Lieutenant-Governor with Wm. 
Mahone in 1889. Was elector on the Harrison ticket in 1888, and on the 
McKinley ticket in 1896. Was married in 1864 to Miss Nannie B. Cawood,\ 
of Owlsey county, Kentucky. Was elected to the Fifty-eighth Congress, re- 
ceiving 13,694 votes, to 13,476 for Wm. F. Rhea, Democrat. 



UNITED STATES SENATOR. 



JOHN WARFIELD JOHNSTON. 

The subject of this sketch was born at "Panicello," one-quarter of a mile 
east of Abingdon, at the home of his grandfather. Judge Peter Johnston, in 
the year 1818. He was the son of Dr. John W. Johnston and Louisa Bowen 
Jolmston. He was educated at the Abingdon Academy, University of South 
Carolina, and the University of Virginia. He mar- 
ried Miss Narcissa Floyd, daughter of Governor John 
Floyd and sister of Governor John B. Floyd. He 
was licensed to practice law and admitted to the bar 
in 1840, and began the practice of his profession at 
Tazewell Courthouse. He served as Commonwealth's 
Attorney for the county of Tazewell, was elected a 
member of the State Senate from the Tazewell dis- 
trict, and in the year 1859 removed to Abingdon, and 
after some years established himself at "Eggleston," 
the name of his country seat, four miles east of Abing- 
don (now the county poorhouse). In the year 1869 
. o ins on. ^^ became judge of the Circuit Court, which poisition 
he held a little more than ten months, when he resigned to take his seat in 
the Senate of the United States. He was three times elected by the General 
Assembly of Virginia a Senator in the Congress of the United States from 
Virginia, serving from 1870-1883. He died in Richmond in 1890, and his 
remains were interred in the Catholic Cemetery at Wytheville. He was 
survived by his wife and the following children: Dr. Geo. Ben Johnston, 
of Richmond; Joseph B. Johnston, of Richmond; Mrs. Louisa Bowen Trigg, 
wife of Daniel Trigg, of Abingdon; Mrs. Sallie J. Lee, wife of Captain Henry 
C. Lee; Mrs. Lavalette McMullen, wife of John F. McMullen, of Elliott 
City, Maryland, and Misses Letitia Floyd Johnston and Coralie Henry 
Johnston. 




766 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



GOVERNORS OF VIRGINIA. 



WYNDHAM ROBERTSON. 

The subject of this sketch was the son of William Robertson and Chris- 
tina Williams, his wife, and was born on the 20th of January, 1803, in the 
city of Richmond. He attended private schools in his native city, and com- 
pleted his education at William and Mary College in the year 1821. Studied 
law and was admitted to the bar in 1824. W^as elected a member of tht 
Council of the State in 1833, and on the 31st of March, 1836, became the 
senior member of the Council, and as such Lieutenant-Governor of the State, 
and upon the resignation of Governor Tazewell, in 
the same year, he became Governor of Virginia. Gov- 
ernor Robertson was a Whig in politics, and the 
Legislature being Democratic, he was succeeded as 
Governor of Virginia in 1837 by David Campbell, of 
Abingdon. Upon the expiration of the term of his 
office, in March, 1837, he retired to tlie country home 
of his wife, "Mary's Meadows," near to and south of 
Abingdon (his wife was Mary Trigg Smith, daughter 
of Captain Francis Smith, of Washington county), 
where he lived until 1858, when he returned to Rich- 
mond, and in 1860 was elected a member of the House 
of Delegates of Virginia from Richmond city. He 
was opposed to Virginia's seceding from the Union, and did all he could Lo 
prevent the war between the States, but after the proclamation of Lincoln 
calling for troops from Virginia, he was from that time forth zealously 
active in all measures for the defence of his State. After the war he re- 
moved to Abingdon, where he died, on the 11th day of February, 1888, and 
his remains were interred at Cobbs, Chesterfield county. He was a man of 
excellent manners and of conisiderable ability. He was survived by his wife 
and the following children: Frank S. Robertson, Wyndham Robertson, 
Mrs. James L. White, Mrs. Connally F. Trigg and Mrs. W. W. Blackford. 




Wyiulhani Robertson 



DAVID CAMPBELL. 

The subject of this sketch was the eldest son of John Campbell and Eliza- 
beth McDonald, his wife, of Hall's Bottom, Washington county, Virginia, 
and was born on the 2d of August, 1779, at Royal Oak (now in Smyth 
county ) , and was about eight years of age when his father removed to Hall's 
Bottom. There he grew up, receiving such education as the frontier settle- 
ments could provide. In the year 1794, in his fifteenth year, he was ap- 
pointed an ensign in Captain John Davis' company of militia. In 1799 he 
was commissioned a captain of a company of light infantry asisigned to the 
Seventieth Regiment of Militia, and in the fall of the same year he married 
his cousin, Mary Hamilton. He studied law, and was licensed, but never 



Washington Comity, 1777-1870. 767 

practised his profession. In 1802 he was appointed deputy clerk of the 
County Court of Washington county, and cliiefly dischai-ged the duties of 
the office to the year 1812. On the 6th of July, 1812, he was commissioned 
a major in the Twelfth Eegiment of Infantry, United States army, and 
marched with the forces to the lakes of Canada, where he served under 
Generals Alexander Smyth and Van Rensselaer. On the 12th of March, 
1813, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Thirtieth Regiment, 
where he served until the year 1814, when he resigned his commission. Upon 
his return home he entered the service of Virginia as aide-de-camp to Gov- 
ernor Barbour, and gave valuable assistance in organizing the large military 
forces called into the service in the summer of 1814. In the year 1815 he 
was elected by the General Assembly as general of the Third Brigade of the 
Virginia Militia. On the 25th of January, 1815, he was appointed colonel 
of the Third Virginia Cavaliy, and was afterwards transferred to the Fifth 
Regiment of Cavahy. Upon his return to Abingdon, 
he entered the clerk's office, where he remained until 
1820, when he was elected a member of the State Senate 
from the Abingdon district for the term of four years. 
In 1824 he was elected clerk of the County Court of 
Washington county, which position he occupied until 
he took his seat as Governor of Virginia, on the 31st 
of March, 1837. Governor Campbell, at the time of 
his election, was a Jackson Democrat, but while Gover- 
nor, and during the administration of President Van 
Buren, the sub-treasury scheme and the standing army David Campbell, 
bill, as they were commonly called, were made party 

measures, and being opposed to them, he warmly supported General Harri- 
son in the presidential campaign of 1840, and ever after acted with the 
W^hig party. Governor Campbell, in his first message to the General Assem- 
bly, proposed the establishment of the common school system, of which he 
was one of the earliest advocates. Upon his retirement from the position 
of Governor of the Commonwealth, he was commissioned a justice of the 
peace for Washington county, and was diligent in the discharge of his 
duties as such until the year 1852, when he retired to private life, after 
having spent nearly one-half a century in the public service. In person 
Governor Campbell was about five feet eleven inches in height, spare and 
erect in carriage, with dark hair and eyes and intellectual countenance and 
pleasing manners. He died at "Mont Calm," his home, now the home of 
Colonel Cummings, on March 19th, 1859, without issue, and his remains 
were interred in Sinking Spring Cemetery, Abingdon, Virginia. 

JOHN BUCHANAN FLOYD. 

The subject of this sketch was the eldest son of Governor John and Las- 
titia Preston Floyd. lie was born at Smitlificld (now Blacksburg, Mont- 
gomery county, Virginia,) June 1st, 180G. Graduated at the College of 
South Carolina in 1826. Studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1828, 
and began practise in his native county. Settled in Washington county in 




"^68 Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 

1839. In. 1847 he was elected a member of the House of Delegates from 
Washington county, and while a member of the House of Delegates he was 
elected Governor of Virginia, of which office he took charge on January 1st, 
1849. The Washington monument, which graces the public square in Rich- 
mond, was authorized and commenced during the 
term of office of Governor Floyd. The corner-stone 
was laid on the 22d of February, 1850, in the pres- 
ence of a large concourse of people, among the num- 
ber being Zachary Taylor, President of the United 
States. Governor Floyd was elected a member of the 
House of Delegates from Washington county in 
1855, served as a presidential elector in 185G, 
was appointed Secretary of War in the Cabinet 
of James Buchanan in IVIarch, 1857, and served until 

-. , _ ^, , December 20th, 1860, when he resigned and became 

John B. Floyd. ° 

an earnest advocate of secession. He was appointed 

brigadier-general in the Confederate States army on May 23d, 1861, and 
served with distinction through the war. He was chief in command at Fort 
Donaldson when it was besieg'^ed by General Grant, but made his escape from 
the fort on February 15th, 1862, with 3,000 men. He was commissioned a 
major-general by the General Assembly of Virginia, and was authorized to 
raise a division of troops from among the classes not embraced in the con- 
scription acts of the Southern Confederacy. He died August 26th, 1863, at 
Abingdon. He married in early life Sarah Buchanan Preston, daughter of 
General Francis Preston, and died without issue. His remains were interred 
'n Sinking Spring Cemetery, Abingdon, Virginia. 




JUDGES OF THE COURTS. 



SUPERIOR COURT OF LAW. 



JUDGE PETER JOHNSTON. 

1811-1831. 

fhe subject of this sketch was a son of Peter and Martha Johnston, of 
"Longwood," Prince Edward county, Virginia. He was educated at Hamp- 
den-Sidney College, receiving a classical education. At the age of seventeen 
he ran off from his home and joined Lee's Legion. Was made a lieutenant. 
In 1782 he resigned from Lee's Legion, joined the Light Corps formed 
by General Greene, and was adjutant, with the rank of captain. Upon the 
close of the Revolutionary war he returned to his father's home, studied 
law, and practised his profession in Prince Edward and the adjoining coun- 
ties. He was elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates several 
times, and was a member at the time of the celebrated resolutions of 1798- 
1799, and the speech that he made upon this occasion \yas considered so able 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



76^ 



that it was published in full in the Register, then the leading paper in the 
United States. In 1811 he was elected a judge of the General Court and 
a.ssigned to the Prince Edward Circuit, but he ex- 
changed circuits with Judge Wm. Brockenbrough, 
who had been assigned to the Southwest Virginia 
Circuit, and came to Abingdon to live, and for 
twenty-one years lived at "Panicello," one-fourth 
of a mile east of Abingdon, and presided over the 
Superior Court of Law for this district with dis- 
tinguished ability for more than twenty years. He 
died December 8th, 1831, and was buried near his 
home, in this county. He was commissioned n 
brigadier-general by the Legislature in early life, 
and left a distinguished family of children. His 
wife, Mary Johnston, was the daughter of Valen- 
tine Wood and Lucy Henry, his wife, a sister of Patrick Heniy and a 
woman of distinguished ability. The names of his descendants were John 
W. Johnston, Peter Carr Johnston, Edward Johnston, General Jos. E. John- 
ston, Beverly Randolph Johnston, Chas. C. Johnston, Benjamin Johnston, 
Mrs. Jane C. Mitchell and Algernon Sidney Johnston. 




Judge Peter Johnston. 



CIRCUIT SUPERIOR COURT OF LAW AND CHANCERY. 



BENJAMIN ESTILL. 

1831-1852. 

The subject of this sketch was the son of Benjamin Estill and Kitty 
Moflfett, who settled upon 1,400 acres of land that they purchased from 
Colonel Wm. Christian at Hansonville (now in 
Russell county, Virginia,) on January 1st, 177D. 
Benjamin Estill, Jr., was born on this farm on 
the 13th day of March, 1780. He received an aca- 
demic education. Studied law, was admitted to 
the bar, and settled in Abingdon. He became thi' 
Attorney for the Commonwealth for this county, 
and filled the position with distinguished ability 
for many years. He was elected a member of th^' 
Legislature from Washington county; proposed 
and advocated the formation of the county of 
Scott, and gave to the county its name. He was a 
great admirer of Winfield Scott, with whom he 
agreed in politics, and thus sought to honor him. 
To the new county seat was given the name of 

Estillville (now Gate City). Such was the popularity of Bcnj. Estill that 
in the year 1825 he was elected to the Nineteenth Congress of the United 
States from this district, receiving nearly every vote cast, and serving from 




liciijaiiiin I<;sl!ll. 



770 Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 

1825-1827. Upon the reorganization of the courts of the Commonwealth, 
in the year 1831, he was elected a member of the General Court and as- 
signed to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, comiiosed of the counties of Lee, 
Scott, Russell, Washington and Tazewell, and served with distinguished 
ability in this capacity until the year 1852, when he resigned his office and 
moved to a farm in Oldham county, Kentucky, where he died and was 
buried, his death occurring on July 14th, 1853. Judge Estill was six feet 
four inches in height, broad-shouldered and of striking appearance, and is 
said to have been the most eloquent man this county has produced in its 
history. Persons now living make the statement that the citizens of Abing- 
don would close their business houses and crowd the courthouse on the first 
day of his court to hear him deliver his charge to the grand jury, such was 
his eloquence and attractiveness. While judge of the Circuit Court he lived 
in the residence now occupied by Thos. W. White, on Main street, Abingdon, 
Virginia, until 1844, and subsequently thereto on a farm about one mile west 
of Jonesville, Virginia, on the Mulberry Gap road, and now owned by Judge 
Morgan. Fifty years have passed since Judge Estill ceased to move among 
the people of Southwest Virginia, still his strong and powerful mind, his 
piety, patriotism, eloquence, gentle manners and transcendant legal abilities 
are fresh in the memory of our people, and the position attained by him in 
the front rank of the men of Southwest Virginia has not been questioned 
with the passing of the years. Of him it may be truly said : 

" The sweet remembrance of the just 
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust." 

What better evidence of the true merit of the man? What a tribute to 
his memory. 

JUDGE SAMUEL V. FULKERSON. 

Tlie subject of this sketch was the son of Abram Fulkerson and Margaret 
Vance, and was born at his father's farm (now the John E. Burson farm), 

in the lower end of this county, in the year , but 

was principally reared in Grainger county, Tennessee. 
He enlisted as a private in Colonel McClelland's regi- 
ment in the Mexican war, and served throughout the 
war with distinction. Studied law and began the 
practice of his profession at Estillville in 1846. Was 
elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 
1850. Was elected judge of this circuit, defeating 
Jos. Strass, of Tazewell county, in the year 1856, and 
served until the spring of the year 1861, when he was 
elected and commissioned colonel of the Thirty- ^^s^-"<^3=^ 

seventh Virginia Regiment of Infantry, and com- „"^ t. ,. 

. . , ., -r ^«i, ■■V./.r, 1 1 Judge S. V. Fulkerson. 
manded this regiment until June 27th, 1862, when he 

fell mortally wounded whilst gallantly leading the Third Brigade in a bold 

and splendid charge upon one of the enemies' strong positions on the Chicka- 

hominy. He died on the following day, and his remains were interred in 

the Sinking Spring Cemetery, Abingdon, Virginia. His career, in the words 




Washington County, 1777-1870. 



.771 



of another, was bright, brief and useful, and his name deserves to be in- 
scribed in the catalogue of the names of the gallant men who died for their 
couutrj'. Judge Fulkerson was never married. 



JOHN A. CAMPBELL. 

The subject of this sketch was the son of Edward Campbell. Was born 
at Hall's Bottom, in this county, in the year 1823. Educated at the Abing- 
don Academy, Emory and Henry College and Vir- 
ginia Military Institute. Studied law, and was 
licensed in 1846. Was a Whig candidate for the 
Legislature from Washington county in 1852. 
Member of the Secession Convention of 1861. Com- 
missioned colonel of the Forty-eighth Virginia Regi- 
ment of Infantry in 1861. Wounded at Winchester; 
Virginia, in 1862. Was elected judge of this circuit 
in 1863, and served till 1869 with distinguished 
ability. Was president of Board of Trustees of 
Emory and Henry College for seventeen years. He 
was a patriot and the peer of any lawyer that prac- 
tised at this bar during the many years of his life. 
He married Mary Branch, daughter of Peter Branch, and died without issue 
June 17th, 1886. 




John A. Campbell. 



JUDGE JOHN A. KELLY. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Lee county, Virginia, June 23d, 
1821. He spent his early life carrying the mail and acquiring an education. 
At the age of sixteen he was employed in the clerk's office of Russell county, 
and with the assistance of the Rev. James P. Carroll, clerk of the Russell 
court, he attended Emory and Henry College. He taught school in Smyth 
and Giles counties, and while teaching in the latter 
county he studied law under Samuel Peck, with 
whom he afterwards formed a partnership. Was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1843. Was cashier of the North- 
western Bank of Virginia from 1854 until after the 
war. After the war he removed to Smyth county and 
formed a partnership with Judge Robert A. Richard- 
son, and enjoyed a lucrative practice. Was elected a 
member of the Legislature from Smyth county in 
1869; in February, 1870, was elected judge of the 
Sixteenth Circuit; assumed this office on April 23d, 
1870, and continued to discharge the duties thereof 
until 1894, when he declined a reelection. Judge 
Kelly was excellently fitted for the duties of this office, and for nearly 
twenty-five years was diligent, upright and learned in the discharge of the 
duties of his position. He died at Marion, Virginia, November 17th, 1900. 




.ludgc J no. A. Kelly. 



^72 



Soutlitrcst Viryinia, 17Jt6-1786. 



JUDGE JOHN PRESTON SHEFFEY. 

The subject of this sketch was the son of James White Sheffey and Ellen 
Fairnian Preston, his wife, and was born at Marion, Virginia, December 
12th, 1837. He graduated at Emory and Henry College in June, 1857. 
Studied law at the University of Virginia ISoB-'.iff, and l>egan the practice 
of law in 1859. Enlisted in the Confederate army, 
served as second and first lieuteiianl, and was eiecled 
captain of Company "A," Eiglith Regiment of \'ii- 
ginia Cavalry, at the reorganization in 18(i2: \\ast;iken 
prisoner at Moorefield, Virginia, August 7th, 18(14, and 
confined in Camp Chaise, Ohio, \intil P^bruary, 1.8il5; 
was exchanged, and afterwards joined his company at 
Appomattox. He resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion, and continued until January 1st, 1895, when he 
assvmied the duties of judge of the Sixteenth Circuit of 
Virginia, to which position he had been elected by the 
General Assembly of Virginia. Was a member of the 
Legislature from Smyth county 1893- '94, and several times a member of 
the Council of Marion, Virginia. Was married June 19th, 1803, to 'Miss 
Josephine Spiller, and has seven children, all living. 




John P. blioffey. 



JUDGE FRANCIS BEATTIE HUTTON. 

Was born two miles south of Emory and Henry College, this county, 
January 28th, 1858. Is a son of Dr. A. D. Hutton. Was educated in the 
public schools of the cormty. Liberty Hall Academy, and Emory ;vnd Henry 
College, graduating therefrom Jime, 1877. He read law uiuler Judge Wm. 
V. Deadrick, Blountville, Tennessee, and General A. C. Cunnnings, Abing- 
don, Virginia, and at the University of Virginia. 
Was admitted to the bar in 1880, and has prac- 
tised his profession in Abingdon, in partnership at 
first with Professor Jas. H. Gilmore, of Marion, and 
afterwards until the present time with Martin H. 
Honaker. Was elected judge of the County Court 
in Deceml)cr, 1885, which position he resigned in 
October, 1886, to accept the position of Assistant 
United States Attorney for the Western District of 
Virginia, to which position he was appointed by 
President Cleveland. He resigned this position upon 
the election of President Harrison, and was elected Francis B. Hutton. 

Common weal th'iS Attorney of Washington county in May, 1891, by 2,700 
majority. He was elected judge of the Twenty-third Judicial Circuit of 
Virginia February 12th, 1903. 




Wasliington County, 1777-1870. 



,^73 



COUNTY JUDGES. 



REUBEN MURRELL PAGE. 

Reuben Murrell Page was born at Abingdon, Alay Ttli. 184;3. In May, 
1861, went into the Confederate army as a member of the Washington 
IMounted Riflemen (under command of Captain, afterwards Ceneral, Wil- 
liam E. Jones), whieli company became Company "D" of the First Regi- 
ment of Virginia Cavalrj''. Was severely wounded 
near Newtown, in Frederick county, November 
12th. 1804. Was licensed as a lawyer in February, 
1868, after reading law in the office of Campbell & 
Humes from the fall of 1865 and iserving as deputy 
clerk of tlie County Court, under Major Jas. C. 
Campbell, for about fourteen monthis. Was mar- 
ried November. 18()8. to INIiss INiarvC'rawford, of 
Al)ingdon. \\'as the first county judge of Wash- 
ington count}^, being chosen to said position in 
April, 1870, and reelected in 1873, continuing in 
that office until tlie beginning of the year 1880. 
Was Orand Master of Masons of Virginia, Decem- 
I)er. 1881. to December. 188.S. In 1881 became associated witli Colonel Abram 
Fulkerson in the practice of law. under the name of Fulkerson & Page, 
wiiich law firm afterwards bceanic I'^ulkcrson. Page & Hurt. 




Reuben Murrell Page. 



JUDCiE GEO. W. WARD, Jr. 

Son of Ceo. W. Vs'ard. Boin at ^^'in(•hester, Va., July 31st, 1847. Edu- 
cated at the Virginia Military Institute. Took part in the battle of New- 
market in ^lay, 1804. Studied law in the law school of Judge Richard 
Parker at Winchester and at llie I'liiversily of Vir- 
ginia. Licensed to practise law, and setthd at Spring- 
field, Missouri, in the year 1872. Cam(> to Abingdon in 
1874, began the practice of his [jrofession. and became 
the editor of tlie Abingdon ^'irgi)li<ln. In the year 1880 
he was elec;ted judge of the County Court of this 
county, which position he resigned before tlie ex])ira- 
tion of his term. He subsequently filled the olfice ot 
Commonwealth's Attorney, and was t lincaflcr twice 
elected county judge, which ollice he held at the time of 
his death. He became ill of i)ncumoiiia. and died on 
the 21.st day of January, 1897. Judge Ward was a 
scholarly man, was able and energetic, and was recog- 
nized as an accurate, painstaking and honest lawyer, lie mairied Miss 
Rosalie Preston, daughter of the Hon. Walter Preston, wlin. with her sou 
and daughter, survived him. 




Geo. \V. Ward, Jr. 



774 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 




David C. Cuniminss. 



JUDGE DAVID CAMPBELL CUMMINGS. 

Son of David C. and Eliza White Cummings. Born 
June 23d, 1861, in Abingdon. Served as deputy clerk 
of the County Court of Washington county from 
April, 1882, to July 1st, 1887. Was elected clerk of 
the County Court of Washington county, and served 
as such from July 1st, 1887, to February 1st, 1897. 
Commissioned judge of the County Court of Wash- 
ington eoinity February 1st, 1897, and at the present 
time occupies thiis position. For many years a com- 
missioner of accounts, and served as president of the 
Board of Directors of the Southwest State Hospital, 
Marion, Virginia, from 1894 to 1898. 



MEMBERS OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONVEiMT^ON. 



EDWARD CAMPBELL. 
Son of John Campbell, of Hall's Bottom. Received an academic educa- 
tion. Studied law and was admitted to the bar. Served as Commonwealth's 
Attorney for Washington county for many years. Elected a member of the 
Constitutional Convention 1829-'30. Brother of Governor David Campbell 
and an uncle of Governor Wm. B. Campbell, of Tennessee. He left several 
sons, who became distinguished in their several spheres, to-wit : Judge John 
A. Campbell, Jos. T. Campbell, and Dr. E. M. Campbell. 



COLONEL WM. BYARS. 

Was born November 18th, 1776. A man of moderate education, but of 
fine judgment, made accurate by close observation, 
he by diligence and excellent management of farm- 
ing operations accumulated wealth, much of which 
he used in founding and promoting the interest 
of Emory and Henry College and for the publie 
good in general. He was a leading member of the 
Board of Trustees of Emory and Henry College 
for many years. Member of the House of Dele- 
gates from Washington county 1809-1812. Can- 
didate for Congress 1833. Died February 14th, 
1856. Was a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1829-1830. 




Col. Wm. Byars. 



CONNALLY F. TRIGG. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Abingdon March 8th, 1810. Studied 
law, became a lawyer of eminent ability, and had but few equals at the 



WasJiingfon County, 1777-1S70. 



775 



har. Was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Washington county, May 
12th, 1838. Candidate for Congress in 1855. In 1856 he removed to Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, where he was soon recognized as the 
peer of any lawyer at the bar. He was appointed 
July 2d, 1862, by President Lincoln to the judgeship 
of the United States Circuit and District Courts of 
Tennessee. By his fimmess and decision upon the 
bench he did much, if not more than any other one 
person in Tennessee, in quieting the turbulent ele- 
ments of the State during the terrible days of recon- 
struction. He died at his home, a few miles south of 
Bristol, Tennessee, April 25th, 1880, and was buried 
at Abingdon. Was elected a member of the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1850-1851. Connally P. Trigg 




JOSEPH T. CAMPBELL. 

Son of Edward Campbell, of Hall's Bottom. Born at Hall's Bottom, in 
this county, in the year 1827. He was educated for the law, and settled and 
practised his profession at Abingdon. He took an active part in the war 
between the States. Became adjutant of the Thirty- 
seventh Virginia Infantry. Was elected Common- 
wealth's Attorney of Washington county, and 
served from 1862 to 1865. Was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention 1867-'68. Was educated 
at the Abingdon Academy, University of Virginia 
1846-'48. Died April 16th, 1878, at Abingdon. 

BENJAMIN RUSH FLOYD. 

Was born December 10th, 1811, in Montgomery 
' ■ " county. Was a son of Governor John Floyd and a 

.Joseph T. Campbell. brother of Governor John B. Floyd. Was educated 
at Georgetown College, D. C, in 1832, graduating with the first honors of 
his class. Studied law and practised at Wythevilje, Virginia, for many 
years. A member of the Virginia House of Delegates 1847-1848. Member 
of the State Senate from this district 1857-1858. Member of the Constitu- 
tional Convention from this district ]850-'51. Defeated for Congress by 
Elbert S. Martin 1859, and died in Wavshington, D. C, February 15th, 1860. 




THOMAS M. TATE. 

Was born in Ricli Valley in 1801. Son of Chas. Tate and Mary Tate, who 
was a daughter of General Wm. Tate, who was a general in tlie Revolu 
tionary army. His father lived near Broad Ford (now in Smyth county, 
Virginia). He was by profession a physician. SlieritT of Washington 
county. Was several times a member of the Legislature from Smyth county. 
Was a member of the State Senate from this di.strict in the years 1852- 
1857. Was iippointed Sixth Auditor in llio Postoflfice Department by Presi 



SokI/i ircsl Mrf/inl(i. 171i^6-178G. 



tlt'iit Unchanan, ami served until Lincoln was inaugurated. He was a mem- 
l)er of the Constitutional Convention in 1850-1851. 



PRESTON WHITE CAMPBELL. 

Son of Edward and Ellen White Campbell. Born in Abingdon in tlie 

year . Was educated at the Abingdon Academy and the University of 

Virginia. Read law vmder Judge F. B. Hutton and at 
the I'niversity of Virginia. Was licensed to practise 
law ill 1S!)U, and settled r.t AI)ingdon. \\'ais elected a 
iiiciuhrr (if llie ('(institutional ('(invention of 1001- 
\'MV1. 




JOHN C. SUMMERS. 

Son of Andrew Summers and Oliva Wirt Hawkin,s, 
bis wife. Was born at (^ap Mills, Monroe county, 
^^■est \'irginia, February 1st, 1841. Was educated at 
iMUory and Henry College and the University of Vir- 
ginia. Was licensed to practise law in 18(30. En- 
Preston M (aiopbcll. ^jg^p^j .,^ .^ p,.i^..,te in the Monroe County Invinciblo 
in the spring of 1801, and took part in the battles of Scarrie Creek and 
Sewell's Mountain. Was elected major of tlie Sixtieth Virginia Regiment 
at the reorganization in 1862, was made lieutenant-colonel in 18(53, and was 
commissioned a colonel in the Provisional army in 1804. Was under tlic 
command of (Generals Field and A. P. Hill in the battles around Richmond. 
In the absence of the colonel, he commanded the Sixtieth Regiment at 
the battle of Cold Harbor, and when night came on. l)eing hard 
pressed by the enemy, lie charged tlicni witli liayo- 
nets. The conduct of the regiment at this lime was 
observed by General Hill in person, and on tlie fol- 
lowing day the Secretary of War for tlic Confederal;- 
States ordered cross bayonets to he iiixTJliid up lU 
the flag of the regiment. Was ci|)tiiicil at Mmrc 
field in 1804, and imprisoned at Cam]) ChaM', Ohio. 
until July. IS(;.">. when he was rclcasel. in Marcli. 
1800, he married Mi<s Xaniiic M. i'i-;-to'i. il;! iiglil rr 
of .lohii V. I'lcsloii, (if this coiiiily. and in Hie san.? 
year settled in thi.s coiinly and hgi'.ii lo ]irac1ise hi- 
profession. Was elected (.'(nnmoiiwealtirs Attorney 
of Washington county, and served from 1887-1891. Was elected a membii 
of the Constitutional Convention of 1901-1902. recci\ ing a majority of 4!)S 
votes over J. H. Winston, Democratic nominee in \A'ashington county, and i 
majority of 157 in the district. 




.lohn C. Summers. 



Wa.sliiii;/h/ii Coiinlif. 1777-1S70. 



777 



COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEYS. 



SAMUEL LOGAN. 

Born October lOtli, 1799. Educated for the law. Settled at Abingdon, 
where he practised his profession. Was Commonwealth's Attorney for 
Washington county for more than fifteen years. He died at Prince 
Edward Courthouse, Virginia, July 15th, 1855. He was an excellent citizen 
and a lawyer of distinguished ability. 



GEORGE EAKIN NAFF. 

Was born at Jonesboro, Tennessee, July 3d, 1829. Educated at Emoiy and 
Henry College. Won the Robertson prize medal in 1847, in his junior year, 
having John Goode, Wm. E. Peters, Everett, Claytori, 
Ridgeway, et als., for competitors. Studied and prac- 
tised law until 1855, when he took charge of a female 
college at Athens, Alabama, ^^'as elected to the presi- 
dency of Soule Female College, Murfreesboro, Ten- 
n^'ssee, in 1858, which position he held until 1862, 
when he died of erysipelas. In 1850 he married Mar- 
garet Elizabeth Hope, of this county. Was appointed 
and served as Commonwealth's Attorney for this 
county in 1855, upon the death of Samuel Logan. 



JOHN HENRY ERNEST. 




George E. Naflf. 



John Henry Ernest was bom May 7th, 1825. in 
Hanover county, Virginia, and died at his home, 

Brook Hall, in 1868. He graduated at William 
and Mary College in 1847, and married Amanda J. 
Byars, daughter of Colonel Wm. Byars, of this 
county. He was elected Commonwealth's Attorney 
for Washington county in 1855, and served until 
18()."5. Was provost marshal at Abingdon for two 
years during the war. After the war he retired to 
his farm and devoted himself to farming. On 
March 3d, 1868, while directing isome laborers on 
his farm who were moving a log, he was crushed' 
by the log and killed. Colonel Ernest's pastor 
says of him: "The writer of these lines know 
him well, and docs nol licsitale to say that he 
never knew a more lil)eral, kind-heart ed and iiumanc man. Ills liberality 
ilispensed with the nmst iirnfuso mikI lavish kindness the earnings of his 




John Henry Ernest. 



778 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



own labor. When the war ended he found a poor man in the mountains vvlin 
had lost an arm in the service. Instantly his generous heart was moved 
with pity, and he clothed him in genteel apparel, sent him to college, and 
assumed the whole cost of his education." 



REES B. EDMONDSON. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Tazewell county, and died in the 
city of Washington on February 13th, 1901. He was a lawyer by profes- 
sion, and practised in Abingdon, Virginia, Mem- 
phis, Tennessee, and Washington, D. C. Entered 
the Confederate service as second lieutenant, and 
served throughout the war. He was elected Com- 
monwealth's Attorney of Washington county in 
1865, and served for several years. 

JOHN L. ROWAN. 

Son of Colonel John M. and Virginia Summers 
Rowan. Was bora in Monroe county. West Vir- 
ginia, February 25th, 1862. Graduated at Wash- 
ington and Lee University in June, 1883. Prae- k^i-k I Im mdson 
tised his profession in Abingdon for several years. 

Was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney for the county, and served in that 
capacity for some time. Removed to Union, Monroe county, West Virginia, 
where he lias since practised law, iscrving as prosecuting attorney for tliat 
county for a number of years. 





Peter J. Davenport. 



PETER JOHNSTON DAVENPORT. 

The subject of this sketch was born near Lindell, 
in this coimty, on the 14th of February, 1863. He 
is the son of Elijah P. Davenport, a native of this 
county, and Adelia H. Hall, daughter of Dr. John 
Hall, of Russell county. Educated in the schools of 
the county. Studied law in the office of Colonel 
John C. Summers, Abingdon, Virginia. Was licensed 
and began the practice of his profession in Abing- 
don. Was elected Commonwealth's Attorney for 
Washington county in the year 1895, which posi- 
tion he has since held, and the duties of which he 
has discharged with marked ability. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 

STATE SENATORS. 



779 




'"^^ y 



Will. E. Peters. 



WM. E. PETERS. 
He was bom in Bedford county, Virginia, August 18th, 1829. Received 
academic training at New London Academy. Entered Emory and Henry 
College in 1840, and graduated in 1848. Taught a 
private school at Lynchburg, and entered the Uni- 
versity in 1850. In 1853 he was elected to the chair 
of ancient languages in Emory and Henry College, 
filling this position until 1856, when a leave of ab- 
sence was granted him by the Board of Trustees and 
he spent two years studying ancient and modern 
languages at Berlin, Prussia; after which he re- 
sumed his duties at Emory and Henry. He entered 
the Confederate sei^vice as a private in April, 1861; 
served as lieutenant of cavalry; later as captain, 
lieutenant-colonel of infantry and colonel of the 
Twenty-first Virginia Cavalry. After having been 

three times wounded, he siirrendered with his command at Appomattox 
Courthouse. Was elected a member of the State Senate from this district 
in 1863, which position some months thereafter he resigned. Professor of 
Latin in the University of Virginia from 1866 to 1902. 

JOSEPH J. GRAHAM. 
The subject of this sketch was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, 
Robert Graham, emigrated to this country from the north of Ireland prior 
to the American Revolution and settled in North Carolina, near Guilford 
Courthouse. He was a soldier in the Revolution, and was so harassed by 
the Tories that he refugeed to what is now the east- 
ern portion of Wythe county, about twelve miles 
east of Wytheville, where he accumulated a consid- 
erable fortune. Jos. J. Graham was born on one of 
the farms owned by his grandfather, near Max Mea- 
dows, on the 16th of July, 1811. In his early life 
he taught a country school. Afterwards he had em- 
ployment with his uncle (David Graham), who was 
the pioneer in the iron industry in Southwest Vir- 
ginia. After remaining with him some years, he 
went to Tennessee, where he was engaged in buisi- 
noss at the outbreak of the Mexican war. He went 
with a body of troops to join Scott's column in 
Mexico, and took part in the bombardment of the fortress of Vera Cruz. 
After the Mexican war he returned to Wythe county, and for several years 
was engaged with the late Colonel James Piper, of Wythe county, in lo- 
cating turnpike roads in Southwest Virginia. He was three times elected a 




Joseiih .1. ( ;i;ih:ini. 



rso 



South tr est Yirglnia, 17 46-1786. 




James S. Greever. 



member of the Legislature from Wythe county, and once to the State Senate 
from this district. He died April 9th, 1877, withovit issue. 

HIRAM A. GREEVER. 
Was born October .30th, 1806, and died the 23d day of May, 1882. He was 
colonel of militia before the civil war, and served in the House of Dele- 
gates from Smyth county. He afterwards served one term as a Senator in 
the General Assembly from this district ; after which 
he retired to private life on his estate, in Smyth 
county, a part of which was inherited from his 
father, who was among the pioneers of Southwest 
Virginia. 

JAMES S. GREEVER. 

General James S. Greever was born September 9th, 
1837, and died December 30th, 1895. He was edu- 
cated at Emory and Henry College, and was an 
honor graduate in the year 1859. The degree of 
Master of Arts was conferred upon him in 1867 by the same institution. 
When war was declared he entered the Confederate service as captain of 
Company A, in the Forty-eighth Virginia Infantry. In 1869 he was elected 
to the Senate from Smyth and Washington counties. He was reelected at 
the expiration of his first term, serving through the administrations of 
Walker and Kemper. During this period he married an only daughter of 
Mr. Richard Woolfork Scott, of Prince Edward county, Virginia, and left 
one child, Miss Virginia Holmes Greever, who, with her mother, survives 
him. General Greever was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of 
Emory and Henry College in 1875, which place he held imtil his death. He 
also served on the Board of Directors of the Southwest Virginia Hospital, 
at INIarion. He filled other responsible positions, being for years agent fen- 
the large and valuable property known as the "Douglas Lands." When he 
died he was president of the Bank of Glade Spring, and 
it was largely through his influence that* this bank 
commenced operations. He died at his- home, "West 
view," a fine estate lying along the banks of the Hol- 
ston river, near Chilhowie, ^'irginia, wlicrc liis wife 
and daughter still reside. 

DAVID FLOURNOY BAILEY. 




David F. Bailey. 



Born January 23d, 1845, in Charlotte county, Vir- 
ginia. Came to Bristol before the civil war, where he 
has since resided. Learned the art of printing in the 
office of the Bristol News and at one time owned and edited that paper. 
Was a private Confederate soldier in Company A, Thirty-seventh Virginia 
Infantry, and later in the cavalry service. Studied law at Cumberland 
University, Lebanon, Tennessee, and began the practice of his profession in 
July, 1869, at Bristol. Was married February 29th, 1872, to Sarah Elean(u- 



W(is],{,i(/loii County, 1777-1S70. 



,781 




I 'rest on. daughter of .lolin F. Preston, of "Locust Glen," Washington county, 
Nirginia. He represented Washington county in the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia 1879-1880, and was chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Was Sena- 
tor from Washington and Smyth counties in 1881-1885. Was Republican 
nominee for Congress in 1884, and was defeated by C. F. Trigg. Was As- 
sistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia during 
Harrison's administration. Was a delegate from this district to the Na- 
tional Republican Convention at St. Louis in 1896, 
and placed in nomination General James A. Walker 
for Vice-President of the United States. Was tlic 
Republican elector from this district in tlie yeai' 
1900, and at the present time is referee in bank- 
ruptcy for this division. 

E. L. ROBERTS. 

The subject of this isketch was born at Broad Ford, 
Smyth county, Virginia, April 4tli, 18.S1. Was 
educated in the common schools of the county, and 
held the position of Superintendent of Schools for 
Smytli comity before the war. Soon after the war 
he \\as elected clerk of the county and circuit 
courts of Smyth county, which position he held for six years. Was twice 
elected a member of the House of Delegates from Smyth and Bland counties. 
Was elected a member of the State Senate from this district in the year 
1889. Has served as school trustee, sheriff and justice of the peace. 

B. F. BUCHANAN. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Smyth county, Virginia, and 
graduated in the academic department of the University of ^'irginia in 18S0 . 
and tlie law department in 1884. ^^'as elected a mem- 
ber of tlie State Senate from this district, serving 
from 189.S to 1897. Was a delegate to the National 
Democratic Convention in 1900, and has been a mem- 
ber of the State Democratic Committee for ten years. 
Was Grand Commandir of the 
(Jiaiiil ( 'oinmandery of Knights 
Tciiiplar of N'irginia fur the 
years l'.)()M!M)2. Now prac- 
tices law at Marion, \'a. 



E. L. Roberts. 




B. F. Buchanan. 



CHAS. W. STKKLK. 
Tlic subject of this sketch was 



born at Steele^jburg, Tazewell I 



county, Virginia, July •24th, 18.)8. Married and settled 
in this county. \\'as land assessor in 1895. Elected 
a member of the State Senate; from this dislrid, and 
served from 1897 to 1901. 




Charles W. Steele. 



782 



Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 



J. CLOYD BYARS. 

The subject of this sketch was born at his father's farm, "Southern 
View," in Washington county, Virginia, on December 9th, 1868. Located at 
Bristol in 1891. Admitted to the bar in 1896. Was 
elected City Attorney for Bristol in 1899. Was de- 
feated for Mayor of Bristol in 1900, and was elected 
to the State Senate from the First Senatorial Dis- 
trict, composed of th'e counties of Smyth and Wash- 
ington, in tlie year 1901, which position lie now fills. 



MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF 
DELEGATES. 





JOHN GIBSON. 

The subject of this sketch was born in the Valley j. cioycl Byars. 
of Virginia January 1st, 1775, and married Amelia _ 

Carter Cummings, daughter of the Rev. Charles 
Cummings, and settled in this county. He was a 
captain in the war of 1812 and a member of the 
Legislature from Washington county in the year 
1837, and died at his home, in this county, August 
2Gth, 1863. 

ROBERT E. GRANT. 

The subject of this sketch was born on the 2.5tli 
of September, 1825, in Washington county, Vir- 
ginia, and was married in 1850 to Miss Anna Snod- 
grass, of this county. Was elected a member of the 
John^Gibson.S Legislature from Washington county in 1855, and a 

member of the Secession Convention of 1861. l^pon 

the breaking out of the war he organized a company, 

afterwards Company H of the Thirty-seventh Virginia 

Volunteers, of which company he was captain. He en 

tered the service and remained until the surrender at 

Appomattox. He removed with liis family to Austin. 

Texas, in 1872. Died July 17th, 1888, leaving his 

wife and several cliildren isurviving hiin. 

JACOB LYNCH. 

Major Lynch was born in Abingdon in the year 1798, 
and died March 16th, 1862. He was educated by ]\Ir. 
Samuel Baillie, who taught a school in Abingdon for 
many years. He entered the Clerk's otfice at tlie age 

of fourteen years as a deputy to Andrew Russell, and remained with him loi 
many years. He then became deputy clerk to David Campbell, and remaiiu-d 




Robert E. Grant. 



Washi'iujlun Cunnly, 1777-1870. 



,783 




with him until he (Campbell) was elected Governor of Virginiii. Jacob 
Lynch was then elected clerk of the court, and held this office until 1858, 
when he declined a reelection. In the spring of the year 1859 he was elected 
a member of the House of Delegates from Washington 
county, and served until the spring of 1860, when he 
was elected president of the Exchange Bank of Abing- 
don, and resigned his position as a member of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. He was for many years president of 
the Russell Ttirnpike Company. 

DR. ALEXANDER R. PRESTOX. 

Dr. Preston was born at "Locust Glen," the home 
of his father, Robert Preston, five miles west of Abing- 
don, on December 8th, 1805. He was the son of Robt. 
Jacob Lynch. Preston, who emigrated to this country from Ireland, 

and Jennie Preston, his wife, a daughter of Robert ^^™,_= — ^ 

Preston, of Walnut Grove. He received his educa- 
tion at the Abingdon Academy, and was educated 
in medicine at Transylvania College, and practised 
his profession in this community until March 5th, 
1874, the date of his death. He was elected a mem- 
ber of the General Assembly from Washington 
county in the year 1860, and was clerk of the Circuit 
Court of this county in the year 1870. 

DAVID B. CLARK. 

The subject of this sketch was born near the Old 
Glade Spring Church on the 18th of March, 1827, 

md died March 12th, 1896. He was for a number of 
years a member of the County Court of this county, 
a school trustee for Saltville District, and a member 
of the House of Delegates from Washington county 
in 186.3-1865. 

DAVID CAMPBELL DUNN. 
The subject of this sketch was 
born at Abingdon, Virginia, 
May 7th, 1829. Educated at 
the Abingdon Academy. Mem- 
ber of Captain J. M. Stephens' 
David B. Clark. militia cojnpany l)r'f(ir;' tlie war. 

In April, 1861, he enlisted as 
a private in Company B, Floyd's Brigade; pro- 
moted to captaincy of Company B; second lieuten- 
ant of the Sixty-third Virginia Regiment, which Uavld C, Dunn, 
position he held until the close of the war. He was wounded at the battle (>f 
Cross Lanes. Was a member of tlie House of Delegates from Washington 
county from 1861 to 1865. Now lives at Conway, South Carolina. 




Alex. R. Preston. 





784 



SoutJuvest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 



ARTHUR CAMPBELL C'UMMINGS. 



The subject of this sketch is the son of James and Mary Ciimmings, and 
was born October Lst, 1822, on the location of tlie first settlement made by 
his great-grandfather, Charles Cummings, in abiml tlie year 1774, at tin; 
head of Wolf Hill Creek, about three miles west of Abingdon. Attended 
the private schools of the neighborliood until appointed a cadet at the 
Virginia Military Institute in the year 1S41, from which institution he 
graduated in 1844. He studied law and wais licensed to practise in 184(1. 
When the war between the United Wtates and Mexico commenced, in May, 
184(i, he raised and was elected captain of two difl'ei*ent volunteer com- 
j^anies under a call for volunteers by the United States Government, but 
neither company was called to go into service. Was commissioned by 
President Polk in ]\Iarch, 1847, as captain of Company K, Eleventh Regi- 
ment of tlie LTnited States Infantry, being one of the ten regiments raised 
wider an act of Congreiss to serve for five years, or during the war. He 
enlisted about thirty-six men at Abingdon and at Chillicothie, Ohio, the 
rest of the company being enlisted by the two lieutenants at Wheeling, 
Virginia. He was then ordered to join his regiment, and reached Vera 
Cruz the 1st of July, 1847; was there attiiched to the command of Major 
Lally, being the first troops to leave Vera Cruz after 
the army under General Scott had commenced tludr 
march on the city of Mexico. Captain Cummings 
was dangerously wounded in an engagement with a 
large force of guerillas concealed in a chaparral, at 
a place called Paso Ovejas, near the National Bridge 
leading to the City of Mexico, and wai^ made brevet 
major for gallant conduct in that engagement. He 
served as captain until the close of the war, and wa-s 
discharged with the regiment at Fort Hamilton, Long 
Island, New York, about September 1st, 1848. Was 
appointed division ins])cctnr of militia for the Fifth 
Division on October 22d, 1849; was commissioned colonel of the Fifth Regi- 
ment of Artilleiy (militia) July 24th, '1858; was commissioned captain 
of the Eleventh Regiment of Infantry (militia) May 20th, 1847. On his 
return home he resumed the practice of law. In May; 1861, he was commis- 
sioned colonel of Virginia Volunteers; was ordered to report to General 
T. J. Jackson at Harper's Ferry, and was by him assigned to the command 
of what was then the Second, afterwards the Tenth, Regiment. In June, 
1861, by order of General Jackson, he organized the Third Regiment, then 
reporting from the adjoining counties. He afterwards organized the Thirty- 




A. C. Cummings. 



Washington Comity, 1777-1S70. 



,785 



third Regiment, and was assigned to its command, and this command be- 
came a part of the Stonewall Brigade. He commanded this regiment at the 
first battle at Manassas and until the reorganization 
in 1862. Elected a member of the House of Delegates 
from this county in 1863 and again in 1869 and 
1871. 

GEORGE GRAHAM. 

Born August i)th, IS.'^l, at the location of his pres- 
ent residence, in this county. Entered the Confed- 
erate service in April, 1861, as first lieutenant of the 
Glade Spring Rifles, known in the service as Company 
F, 'i'hirty-seventh Virginia Regiment. Was promoted 
to captain in June, 1861, where he remained until September, 1863, when 
he was elected a member of the House of Delegates from Washington 
county. Was reelected in 1869; since wliich time he has been engaged in 
farming upon an extensive estate. He married Miss Rebecca Preston, 
dauffhter of Colonel Thomas M. Preston. 




George Graham. 



SELDEN LONGLEY. 

Born at Emory and Henry College on the 7th of February, 1846, and is 
the son of Edmond Longley and May Hammond Longley. Educated in the 
common schools and Emory and Henry College. At the age of seventeen he 
entered the Confederate army, first in Captain J. K. Rambo's company of 
Border Rangers; was afterwards transferred to Company F, Twenty-first 
Virginia Cavalry, Captain Fred Gray and others commanding. He was 
made orderly sergeant soon after he enlisted, and commanded a company for 
several months before the close of the war. When 
the war was over he reentered Emory and Henry 
College, and in June, 1866, won the Robertson prize 
medal for oratory, and graduated in 1868. He was 
elected assistant professor of ancient and modern 
languages, and taught at Emory for one year. 
Studied law at the University of Virginia, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1870. In June, 1870, he was 
the final orator of the Washington Literary Society 
at the University of Virginia, and in November, 
1873, he was elected to the House of Delegates from 
Washington county, and in the same year he was 
happily married to Miss Leona Howard Jordan, 
daughter of Colonel W. J. Jordan, of Pulaski count.y. In 1891 he re- 
moved to Pulaski countj', was appointed judge of the County Court of 
that county by Governor Chas. T. O'Ferrall, and was elected by the General 
Assembly in 1897 to serve for the term of si.x years, which position he now 
occupies. 




Seltlen Ijongley. 



786 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 



ISAAC CHAPMAN FOWLER. 

The subject of this sketch was born at Tazewell, Virginia, September 23(1, 
1831, but was principally reared near Red Sulphur Springs (now West Vir- 
ginia). Was educated at Emory and Henry Col- 
lege. Was engaged in mercantile pursuits at 
Tazewell from April, 1852, until October, ISGO, 
when lie removed to Emory and engaged in mer- 
chandising there until all of his property was 
swept away by the war. Was connected with the 
Commissary Department of the Confedei'ate 
States under General Breckenridge. After the 
clofse of the war he removed to Bristol. Was 
five times Mayor of that town. Represented 
Washington county in the House of Delegntes 
for six years, during which time he was Speaker 
of the House of Delegates. Was owner and editor 
of the Bristol News from August, 1868, until 
February, 1884, at which time he was appointed 




Isaac Chapman Fowler. 




clerk of the United States Court, Abingdon, Vir- 
ginia, which position he now holds. 

CHARLES B. COALE. 
Was born in Maryland in 1807. He came to 
Abingdon and became associate editor and proprie- 
tor of the Abingdon Virginian, in 1837. In 1841 he 
associated himself with Geo. R. Barr and began 
the publication of the Abingdon 'Virginia7}. To- 
gether they continued to own and publish the 
Abingdon Virgiiiian until February, 1873. Was 
elected a member of the House of Delegates from 
this county in the year 1875. Was the author of a 

book entitled "Wilburn Waters," in which much of 
the history of this county has been preserved. While 
not a native of this county, he contributed his time 
and energy to a greater extent than any that had pre- 
ceded him in preserving the historj' of the county. 
Was an active member of the I. 0. 0. F. Lodge, of 
Abingdon, Virginia, and took an active part in the 
founding of Martha Washington College. He died on 
January 3d, 1879, and was buried in Sinking Spring 
Cemetery. He left no descendants. 



Cliarleb 11. Coak. 




JONAS S. KELLY. 



Jonas S. Kelly. 



The subject of this sketch was bom near Emory, 
Virginia, February 22d, 1819; died November 29th, 1895. He was a mem- 



Wasliingtmi County, 1777-1870. 



787 




Daniel Tugs?. 



her of the House of Delegates from Washington county for eight years. Was 
a member of the Board of Supervisors from Saltville District for many 
years. He was one of the most popular men that 
ever appeared before the people of Washington 
county. 

DANIEL TRIGG. 

The subject of this sketch is a son of Dr. Daniel 
Trigg and Anna Munford Trigg, daughter of Alexan- 
der Tompkins, and was born in Abingd^ju on the 12th 
day of March, 1843. Was educated at the Naval 
Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, resigned there- 
from in 1861 and joined the Confederate States navy, 
and served therein throughout the war, attaining the 
rank of lieutenant. After the war he studied law, 
was licensed, and settled in Arkansas in the year 1868, but returned to 
Abingdon and settled in the year 1869, where he has since practised his pro- 
fession with success. Was elected a member of the 
House of Delegates from Washington county in 
the year 1882, and took high rank in the proceed- 
ings of the following sessions of the General As- 
sembly. He married Miss Louisa Bowen Johnston, 
daughter of Judge John W. Johnston, and has 
three sons and two daughters now living. 

CHAS. W. ALDERSON. 
Born at Lebanon, Russell county, Virginia, June 
21st, 1846. Settled in Washington county. Was 
elected a "justice for the Glade Spring District ♦"or 
the year 1887. Was elected a nu>ml>er of the 
House of Delegates from Washington county in the year 1891. Served as 
school trnstee in Glade Spring District from 1896 to 1900. 




Chas. W. Alderson. 



L. H. SNODGRASS. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Sull'van 
county, Tennessee, June 18tli, 1859. Married and 
settled at Craig's M?lls, in this county. Served as 
supervisor and school trustee of Kinderhook Dis- 
trict for several years. Was elected a member of tlie 
House of Delegates from Washington county in 1891. 



JAMES CROW. 
James Crow was born near Friendship, October 
loth, 1821, and died November 14th, 1902. He was 
tlie descendant of one of the original settlers of this L. H. Snodgrass. 
county. Was well known and respected for his fine character and ability. 
Was a justice of the peace for fifte<.'n years; supervisor, first of Glade Spring 




ns 



Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1186. 



District and afterwards of Holston District for a number of years. Was 
elected a member of the House of Representatives from this county in 1889. 
He accumulated a considerable fortune and left very respectable descendants. 





E. S. KENDRICK. 
Was born in New Garden, Russell county, Virginia, September 20th, 1856. 

Removed to Bristol in 1882. Was a member of the Washington County 

School Board for Goodson District for several years 

and a member of the Town Council for Goodson for 

four years. Represented Washington county in the 

House of Delegates 1889-1890, and during this time 

secured an act of the General Assembly changing 

the name of Goodson to the city of Bristol. Was a 

member of the City Council for Bristol for four 
years and a member of the 
School Board of the city. 
Again represented Washing- 
ton county and the city of 
Bristol in the House of Dele- 
gates in the years 1893-1894. James Urow. 

ANDREW F. RAMBO. 
The subject of this sketch was born near Palestine, 
in this countyf July 5th, 1845. Educated in the 
schools of the county. Has been a merchant most of 
his life. Joined the Washington Mounted Rifles in 
April, 1861 ; served through the war. Has been 
postmaster at Palestine since 1881. Was elected a 
member of the House of Delegates from Washington 
county in the year 1895. 



JOSEPH M. BUTT. 

Was born four miles north- 
west of Abingdon, October 
29th, 1846. Was the youngest 
child of Rignal and Sarali 
Butt. Served as lieutenant in 
Company E, Thirteenth Bat- 
talion of Virginia Reserves. 

Was elected a member of the House of Delegates from 
Washington county in 1895. Twice married — first to 
Theresa J. Lyon, of Washington county, and secondly 
to Fannie A. Drinkard, of Richmond, Virginia. 



E. S. Kendrick. 





Andrew F. Rambo. 



Joseph M. Butt. 



W. H. TOMNEY. 
Great-grandson of Christopher Simmerman, who gave the land for the 
location of the town of Wytheville. Was bom in Wytheville, September 



WasJimgton County, 1777-1870. 



.789 



15th, 1862. Has spent his life in the newspaper business. Was elected a 
member of the House of Delegates from Washington county in the year 1893, 
at which time he was the editor of the Glade Spring Citizen. 

JOHN ROBERTS. 

Born on the head waters of Rattle Creek, in this county, five miles north 

of Abingdon, on December 9th, 1834. Was the son of Henry and Elizabeth 

Roberts. Was captain of militia in 1858. Enlisted 

as a private in Company I, Forty-eighth Virginia 

Regiment, in 1861, and was elected lieutenant of 

the company at the reorganization in 1862. He 

lost his right leg at the battle of Chancellorsville, 

May 3d, 1862. Was appointed purchasing agent 
for the county in 1864. 
Twice represented North 
Fork District as a super- 
visor. Elected a member 
of the Legislature in 1887. 
Has served as Commis- 
sioner of the Revenue for the Western District since 
1895. 

SAMUEL P. EDMONDSON. 





W. H. Tomney. 



John Roberts. 



The subject of this sketch is a direct lineal de- 
scendant of one of the heroes of King's Mountain. 
He wa,s born in this county, educated in the schools 
of the county, and for many years has been a very 
successful farmer and cattle trader. Has held a 
number of very responsible positions. Was elected 
a member of the House of Delegates from Washing- 
ton county in the year 1887. 

CHAS. H. JENNINGS. 
Born in Bristol, Vir- 
ginia, February 9th, 1865. 
Has lived in Abingdon 
since January 1st, 1883. 
Member of the Town Coun- 
cil and the School Board of Cave City School Dis- 
^™™mr ^^ / ^i^m^ trict. Married Miss Hattie McChesney Jones, De- 
cember 91h, 1884. Was elected a member of the 
House of Delegates from Washington county in 
1897. Is now the proprietor of the Hattie House 

and of Jennings' drug store, Abingdon, Va. 
Cliarle.s 11. Jennings. 





Samuel P. Edmondson. 



THOMAS J. CAMPBELL. 

The subject of this sketch is a son of Wm. B. Campbell, and was reaioil 
on the Jonesboro road, about nine miles west of Abingdon, lias been a 



790 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-1786. 



farmer all his life. Was elected a member of the House of Delegates from 
Washington county in 1897. 



JOHN W. PEICE. 

John W. Price, a son of Rev. Wm. H. Price, was born at his fatlier's home, 
on tlie Middle Fork of Holston river, in this county. Was educated at Emory 
and Henry College. Studied medicine and gradu- 
ated with high honors. Afterwards studied law, and 
settled and began lo practise his profession in Abing- 
don in 1894. Was an unsuccessful candidate for 
Commonwealth's Attorney in 1895. In the follow- 
ing year removed to Bristol, where he has since 
jjractised his profession with success. Was elected 
a member of the House of Delegates from Washing- 
ton county and the city of Bristol in 1899, and was 
recently elected judge of the Corporation Court for 
the city of Bristol for the term beginning February 
1st, 1904. 




John \V. i rice. 




C. H. McCluns. 



C. H. McCLUNG. 
The subject of this sketch was born on a farm in 
Greenbrier county (now W^est Virginia), April 30th, 
1841. Was educated in the common schools of his 
county. Entered the Confederate service as a pri- 
vate in Company C, Nineteenth Virginia Regiment 
of Cavalry, in 1861, and served as such until 1864, 
when he became adjutant of his regiment. Was cap- 
tured in the fall of that year, and remained a pris- 
oner at Camp Chase, Ohio, until after the close of 
the war. After the war he began farming, and at. 
times managed hands in tlie grading of the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio railway on New River, West Virginia. 
Was appointed sheriff and treasurer of Fayette county, 
West Virginia, in 1877, and at the following election 
was elected to the same office for the term of four years. 
In 1888 he removed to Meadow View, Washington 
county, Virginia. In 1895 was a candidate for treas- 
urer of Washington county, but was defeated by S. M. 
Withers. Was elected a member of the House of Dele- 
gates from this county in the year 1899; since which 
time he has been farming and merchandising. 

A. J. HUFF. 
A. J. Huff. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Roanoke 
county, May 27th, 1865. He has been an extensive fanner and stock-raiser 
since maturity; is a part owner of the Byars' faiin. in the upper end of this 




Washington County, 1117-1870. 



791 



county, and has lived in this count j' since October lotli, 1!)01. \Vas elected 
a member of the House of Delegates from this county in the year 1901. 




J. \V. Mon. 



J. W. MORT. 

Was born in Strasburg, Shenandoah county, Virginia, September 10th, 
1855. Moved to Bristol in 1876. Was appointed Commissioner of the Reve- 
nue for the city of Bristol in 1890. Was afterwards elected to succeed him- 
self four times in that office, and served ten years. Was twice elected a 
member of the City Council. Was elected a member 
of the House of Delegates from Washington county 
iuul the city of Bristol in 1901. 

CHARLES STUART BEKEM. 

Charles Stuart Bekem was bom in Abingdon, Vir- 
ginia, December 25th, 1802, and died in his native 
town, August 19th, 1875, in the seventy-second year 
of his age. He was the son of William and Jane 
Bekem, who came to America from Ireland before the 
close of the eighteenth century and settled in Abing- 
don. Mrs. Bekem was a sister of Lieutenant John 
Carson, of the First Continental Artillery, who died the 12th of September, 
1781, of wounds received at Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, 8th September, 
1781, and of Chas. S. Carson, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and who 
figured conspicuously in the business affairs of Southwest Virginia. Tlie 
subject of this sketch was a graduate of ^^■ashington College, Tennessee. 
Mr. Bekem was a prominent lawyer, distinguished for his honesty and in- 
tegrity, and was called upon often to represent hiis county in the Ijegislature, 
which he did with great fidelity. He was Commonwealth's Altorney for the 
counties of Washington and Russell, and achieved quite 
a reputation in this capacity for uprightness of condud 
and fair dealing with those he had to prosecute. ]\lr. 
Bekem had as his contemporaries at the bar isnch men a^ 
James W. Sheffey, Samuel Logan, Arthur C. Cummings, 
Jolin W. Jolinston, John A. and Jos. T. Clampbell, and 
others equally as prominent. ]\Ir. Bekem was a ]ironii- 
nent Ma-sou. In jjolitics he was a \^ big, and \\;is ;iii 
ardent admirer of the principles of that party, bis eoun- 
eel often being sought in regard to party affairs. Mr. 
Bekem had three sisters — Margaret C, who never mar- 
ried; Sallie K., who married \Vm. King, of Saltville, and 
-Fane Eliza, who married Rev. Lewis F. Cosby, D. D. ; two brotiiers, John C. 
and James C, who died unmarried. In religious belief the Bckems were 
Presbyterians. 

JOHN CAMPBELL. 

Tlie subject of this .sketch was the son of David Campbell, and was born 
in Augusta county. In about the year 17G5 lie accompanied Dr. Thomas 




Ch.i.s. S. Bekem. 



793 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 

Walker to the waters of the Holston, and with his father and brothers pur- 
chased a valuable tract of land on the waters of the Middle Fork of Holston 
river, called the "Royal Oak," now about one mile east of Marion, Virginia. 
He was a captain of militia and took part in the battle of Long Island 
Flats. He was a member of the County Court of Washington county, 
became clerk of the court of the county in the year 1779, and served until 
1815, thirty-six years. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he 
purchased from Jacob Young a valuable tract of land in the lower end of 
this county, since known as "Hall's Bottom." This Jacob Young came 
directly from Germany with a large household; was a wealthy man, and 
lived and ruled his household and tenantry like a lord. To this tract of 
land John Campbell removed and lived for many years, and reared a large 
family of children, many of whom became distinguished. John Campbell, 
his son, was for ten years treasurer of the United States, and represented 
this county in the Legislature before he was twenty-one years of age. David 
Campbell, his son, was for twenty-two years clerk of the County Court of 
this county, member of the Senate of Virginia for four years, and Governor 
of Virginia from 1837 to 1841. A grandson, Wm. B. Campbell, was Gover- 
nor of Tennessee, and a brother-in-law, Archibald Roane, the husband of Ann 
Campbell, was judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee and 
Governor of that State from 1801 to 1804. Another son, Edward Camp- 
bell, was a distinguished lawyer, and lived in this county. 

COLONEL JOHN PRESTON. 

The subject of this sketch was the son of Robert Preston, the first sur- 
veyor of this county. He was born in Abingdon in 1781, and died at 
Walnut Grove in 1865. He was educated for the law, but never practised 
his profession. The landed estate inherited by him from his father was 
immense, and he devoted his life to farming pursuits. He was for many 
years presiding justice of the County Court for Washington county, and 
exercised great influence in his time. He left a large and highly respectable 
family of children. 

COLONEL JOHN CAMPBELL. 

The subject of this sketch was the son of John Campbell, and was born 
at Royal Oak in about the year 1791. He was educated at the Abingdon 
Academy, and in the year 1811 was elected a member of the House of Dele- 
gates from Washington county, became a member of the Council of State, 
and acquired an excellent reputation. In the year 1818 he decided to settle 
in Alabama, and President James Monroe, when informed of that fact, ad- 
dressed the following communication to Governor Bibb, of Huntsville, Ala- 
bama, in regard to Colonel Campbell : 

Louisville, June 24th, 1819. 
Dear Sib: 

Had I seen you when at Huntsville I should have spoken to you 
a»d j'e(30»wen4e4 to jowj lsift4 ftttentjon Major JoUft QawpbelJ, latelj^ of 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



793 



the Council of State in Virginia, now a resident of Alabama. I consider 
him a young man of great merit for integrity, strength and correctness of 
judgment and purity of political principles. In his welfare I take great in- 
terest. Well knowing his merit, I have thought it proper to communicate 
to you the sense I entertain of it, in the hope that it might be of some ser- 
vice to him. 

With great respect and esteem, I am, dear sir. 

Yours, 

JAMES MONROE. 

Gov. Bibb, Huntsville. 

Colonel Campbell did not remain long in Alabama, but returned to this 
county, and in April, 1829, he was appointed Treasurer of the United 
States by President Jackson, and discharged the du- 
ties of that position with distinguished ability until 
1839, when, finding himself opposed to many of the 
policies of President Van Buren, he resigned his posi- 
tion, returned to his home, and ever afterwards advo- 
Uj* <^' cated the policies of the Whig party. 

^ '^ '' COLONEL JAMES WHITE. 

The subject of this sketch was born at Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania, February 22d, 1770, of Scotch-Irish pa- 
Col Jno Campbell rents, and when quite young was a clerk in the con- 
cern of Talbot, Jones & Co., of Baltimore, Maryland, 
with whom he remained two or three years. This firm advanced him a small 
stock of goods, with which he made his first trip to Southwest Virginia. 
On the 4th of January, 1798, he married Miss Eliza Wilson, and settled in 
Abingdon. All of his undertakings seemed to pros- 
per, and at the date of his death, which occurred Oc- 
tober 20th, 1838, his estate was estimated to be 
worth more than two-thirds of a million dollars. He 
was over six feet in height, of broad shoulders, deep 
chest, and that symmetry of limb that indicates 
agility and strength. He left a very large and dis- 
tinguished family of children. 




WILLIAM KING. 




Col. .James White. 



Was born in Ireland in 1769, and came to America 
at the age of fifteen years, landing at Newcastle, 

Delaware, August 17th, 1784, and was for five years engaged with a mer- 
chant at Philadelphia, his father, Thomas King, having previously to that 
time settled in Fincastle county. William King remained in Philadelphia 
until 1791, when he joined his father at Abingdon. (The home of Thomas 
King was near to and a little east of the present residence of Dr. Wm, 
White.) He received a legacy of 100 pounds from his grandmother, Eliza' 
l)etb Ps-vjs, aftd >v^tJ| Wv^ papitaj be started a? a pedJer to make bjs \QV- 



794 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-178G. 



tune. His success was rapid, and he established stores along' liis line of 
travel and stocked them with such merchandise as best suited the people of 
the country. In 1799 he married Mary Trigg, and 
built the first brick house in Abingdon. (This house 
is still standing on Court street opposite the court- 
house.) He died in 1808. The crowning act of his 
life was the devise of $10,000 to the Abingdon 
Academy. 

JOSEPH W. DAVIS. 

Joseph W. Davis was born in what is now Smyth 
county, Virginia, in 1798. Moved to Washington 
county in 1846 from his former home at Pleasant 
Hill. For several years he represented Smyth 
county in the Legislature, and after the war was 
State Senator for two years. He did much as a 
magistrate, surveyor and civil engineer. Became manager of the Emory 
and Henry College boarding-house and farm in 1846, holding this position 
for six years. Subsequently engaged in merchandising, and finally in farm- 
ing. He was a trustee of Emory and Henry College for about twenty years. 
Major Davis was a man of deep and earnest convictions, and few men 
have exerted a more positive influence on others. 




Jos. W. Davi.s. 



ROBERT W. HUGHES. 

Judge Robert William Hughes was born in Powhatan county, Virginia, 
June 16th, 1821, and was reared by Mrs. General Carrington, daughter of 
General Francis Preston, of Abingdon. He was edu- 
cated at Caldwell Institute, Greensboro, North Caro- 
lina. Was tutor in Bingham High School, Hillsboro, 
North Carolina, 1840-1843. Was a practising lawyer 
in Richmond 1843-1853. WaiS editor of the Richmond 
Examiner 1850-1857, and joint editor of that paper 
from May, 1861, to April, 1865. Upon the close of the 
war he aligned himself with the Republican party, 
and edited first the Richmond Republic and after- 
wards the Richmond Journal. In 1873 he was the Re- 
publican candidate for Governor of Virginia, and in 
January, 1874, he was by President Grant commis- 
sioned United States District Judge for the Eastern 
District of Virginia, in which position he served with 
marked ability and distinction till February 22d, 1898, when, owing to his 
advanced age, he tendered his resignation. On June 4th, 1850, at the Gov- 
ernor's Mansion, in Richmond, he married Miss Eliza M. Johnston, daughter 
of Hon. Chas. C. Johnston and Eliza Maiy Preston, niece of General Jos. E. 
Johnston. For many years he occupied as a summer home his fine 
estate, about three miles southeast of Abingdon. He was the author of 
biographies of General Floyd and General Joseph E. Johnston, published in 
"Lee and His Lieutenants," 1867; a volume entitled "The American Dol- 




Robt. W. Hughes. 



Wa.^Jdngtou Counly, 1777-1870. 



,795 



lar," 1885, and of five volumes of United States Circuit and District Court 
reports, entitled ''Hughes' Reports, 1879-1885." In the year 186C Judge 
Hughes fought a duel with Wm. E. Cameron, afterwards Governor of Vir- 
ginia, which resulted in Cameron's receiving a broken rib at the first fire. 
He died December 10th, 1901. His remains were interred in Sinking Spring 
Cemetery. 

REV. LEWIS F. COSBY. 

Rev. Lewis F. Cosby, D. D., was the son of Dabney Cosby, deceased, of 
Staunton, Virginia. Was born the 15th day of January, 1807, and de- 
parted this life the 6th day of July, 1883, in Abingdon. At the age of 
eleven years he was converted, and some years afterwards became a minister 
of the gospel in the Methodist Protestant church, 
serving many charges in Eastern Virginia. He 
came to Abingdon and assumed charge of the 
church liere. During a revival in said church i 
very accomplished young lady (Miss Jane Eliza 
T^ekem) professed religion, and on the 13th day of 
January, 1833, she became the wife of the young 
jireacher, the ceremony being performed by the 
Rev. David R. Preston, of the Presbyterian church. 
To this union seven children were born, four of 
whom are yet living. After this Dr. Cosby re- 
turned to Eastern Virginia, but in the year 1844, 
with his family, removed to Washington county, 
and settled at "Oakland," where he farmed success- 
fully and preached in Abingdon and often in the surrounding. country. Mrs. 
Cosby departed this life June 13th, 1853. He was married the second time, 
his last wife being Mrs. Elizabeth Montgomery, who survived him a few 
years. Dr. Cosby was noted for his kindliness of heart, his generosity to t)ie 
poor and sufl'ering, and for the purity of his life. He was a fluent speaker, 
and had a voice in song that was unexcelled. He lived honored and ro 
spected by all. He took great interest in public affairs, and gave much of 
his time and talents for the good of the public. His duist lies in Sinking 
Spring Cemetery. 




Rev Lewis F. Cosby. 



796 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1786. 



APPENDIX. 



JOURNAL OF DOCTOR THOMAS WALKER— 

1 749-' 50. 

Having on the 12th of December last been employed for a certain con- 
sideration to go to the westward in order to discover a proper place for a 
settlement, I left my home on the 6th day of March, at 10 o'clock, 
1749-'50, in company with Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, Colby 
Chew, Henry Lawless & John Hughes. Each man had a horse and we 
had two to carry the baggage. I lodged this night at Col. Joshua Fry's, 
in the Albemarle, which county includes the Chief of the head Branches of 
James River on the east side of the Blue Ridge. 

March 7th. We set off about 8, but the day proving wet, we only went 
to Thomas Joplin's on Rockfish. This is a pretty River, wliich might at a 
small expense be made fit for transporting Tobacco; but it has lately 
been stopped by a Mill Dam near the Mouth to the Prejudice of the upper 
inhabitants who would at their own expense clear and make it navigable, 
were they permitted. 

March 8th. We left Joplin's early. It began to rain about Noon. I left 
my people at Thomas Jones's and went to the Reverend Mr. Robert Rose's 
on Tye River. This is about the size of Rockfish, as yet open, but how 
long the Avarice of Millers will permit it to be so, I know not. At pres- 
ent the Inhabitants enjoy plenty of Fine fish, as Shad in their Season, 
Carp, Rocks, Fat-Backs which I suppose to be Tench, Perch, Mullets, etc. 

March 9th. As the weather continues unlikely, I moved only to Baylor 
Walker's quarters. 

March 10th. The weather is still cloudy, and leaving my people at the 
Quarter, I rode to Mr. John Harvies', where I dined and returned to the 
quarter in the evening. 

11th. The Sabbath. 

March 12th. We crossed the Fluvanna and lodged at Thomas Hunt's. 

13th. We went early to William Calloway's and supplied ourselves with 
Rum, Thread, and other necessaries & from thence took the main wagon 
Road leading to Wood's or the New River. It is not well cleared or beaten 
yet, but will be a very good one with proper management. This night 
we lodged in Adam Beard's low grounds. Beard is an ignorant, impudent, 
brutish fellow, and would have taken us up, had it not been for a reason 
easily to be suggested. 

We went from Beard's to Nicholas Welche's, where we bought corn for 
our horses, and had some Victual dressed for Breakfast, afterwards we 
crossed tJje Pliie Ridge, The ascent aji4 desceot is so easy that a Strange^ 



Washi7igton County, 1777-1870. 797 

would not know Avhen he ci'ossed the Ridge. It began to rain about Noon 
and continued until night. We lodged at William Armstrong's. Corn 
is very scarce in these parts. 

March 15th. We went to the Great Lick* on a Branch of the Staunton 
& bought com of Michael Campbell for our Horses. This Lick has been 
one of the best places for Game in these parts and would have been of 
much greater advantage to the Inhabitants than it has been if the Hunters 
had not killed the Buffaloes for diversion, and the Elks and Deer for their 
skins. 

Tliis afternoon we got to the Staunton where the Houses of the Inhabi- 
tants had been carried off with their grain and Fences by the Fresh last 
Summer, and Lodged at James Robinson's, the only place I could hear of 
where they had Corn to spare, notwithstanding the land is such that an 
industrious man might make 100 barrels a share in a seasonable year. 

March 16th. We kept up the Staunton to William Englishe's. He lives 
on a small branch, and was not much hurt by the Fresh. He has a Mill, 
which is the furthest back except one lately bviilt by the Sect of people, 
who call themselves of the Brotherhood of the Euphrates, {17th) and are 
commonly called the Duncards, who are the upper inhabitants of the New 
River, which is about 400 yards wide at this place. They live on the west 
side and we were obliged to swim our Horses over. The Duncards are an 
old set of people who make it a matter of religion not to shave their 
Beards, ly on beds, or eat Flesh, though at present, in the last they trans- 
gress, being constrained to it, as they say, by Avant of a sufHciency of 
Grain and Roots, they having not long been seated here. I doubt the 
plenty and deliciousncss of the Venison & Turkej-s has contributed not 
a little to this. The unmarried have no private property, but live on a 
Common Stock. They don't baptize either Yovmg or Old, they keep their 
Sabbath on Saturday, & hold that all men shall be happy hereafter, but 
must first pass througn punishment according to their Sins. They are 
very hospitable. 

March 18. The Sabbath. 

19th. We could not find our Horses and spent the day in looking for 
them. In the evening we found their track. 

20th. We went very early to the track of our Horses & after following 
them six or seven miles, we found them all together. We returned to the 
Duncards about ten o'clock, and having purchased half a bushel of meal 
and as much small Hominy we set off and Lodged on a small Run be- 
tween Peak Creek and Reedy Creek. 

March 21st. We got to Rcedj'- Creek and Camped near James McCall'st 
1 went to his House and Lodged and bought what Bacon I wanted. 

22nd. I returned to my People early. We got to a large Spring about 
five mil&s below Davis's Bottom on Holston's River and Camped. 

23rd. We kept down Holston's River about four miles and Camped j and 
then Mr. Powell and I went to look for Samuel Stalnakcr, who 1 had boe>] 

♦Now Roanoke. 
•(•Now M«3f MeadQWSi 



798 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-17S6. 

informed was just moved out to settk. We found his Camp, and returned 
to our own in the Evening. 

24th. We went to Stalnaker's, helped him to raise his house and Camped 
about a quarter of a mile below him. In April 1748, I niet the alxjve 
mentioned Stalnaker between the Reedy Creek Settlement and Holston 
Iliver, on his way to the Cherokee Indians, and expected him to pilot me 
as far as he knew but his affairs would not permit him to go with me. 

March 2.5th. The Sabbath. Grass is plenty in the low grounds. 

26th. We left the Inhabitants, and kept nigh West to a large Spring on 
a Branch of the North fork of Holston. Thunder, Lightening, and Rain 
before Day. 

27th. It began to Snow on the morning and continued till Noon. The 
Land is very hilly from West to North. Some Snow lies on the tops of 
the mountains N. W. from us. 

28th. We traveled to the lower end of Giant's Ditch on Reedy Creek. 

29th. Oiu" Dogs were very uneasie most of the Night. 

.30th. We kept down Reedy Creek, and discover'd the tracks of about 
20 Indians, that had gone up the Creek between the tipie we Camjied last 
Night, and set off this Morning. We supjjose they made our Dogs so rest- 
less last Night. We Camped on Reedy Creek. 

March 30th. We caught two young Buffaloes one of which we killed, 
and having cut and marked the other we turn'd him out. 

31st. We kept down Reedy Creek to Holston where we measured an 
Elm 25 feet round 3 feet from the Ground. We saw young Sheldrakes, we 
went down the River to the North Fork and up the North Fork about a 
quarter of a mile to a Ford and then crossed it. In the Fork between Hol- 
ston's and the North River, are five Indian Houses built with loggs and 
covered witli Bark, and there were abundance of Bones, some whole Pots 
and Pans, some broken and many pieces of mats and Cloth. On the West 
Side of the North River, is four Indian Houses such as before mentioned, 
we went four miles Below the North River and Camped on the Bank of 
Holston's, opposite to a large Indian Fort. 

April ye 1st. The Sabbath. We saw Perch, [Mullets, and Carp in plenty, 
and caught one of the large Sort of Cat Fish. I marked my Name, the 
day of tlie ]\Ionth, and date of the year on several Beech Trees. 

2nd. We left Holston & travelled through small Hills till about Noon, 
when one of our Horses being choaked by eating Reeds too greedily, we 
stopped, having travelled seven miies. 

3d. Our horse being recovei-'d, we travelled to the Rocky Ridge. I went 
up to the top to look for a Pass, but found it so Rocky that I concluded 
not to attempt it there. This Ridge may be known by Sight at a distance. 
To the Eastward are many small ]\Ioinitains, and a Buffalo Road between 
them and tlie Ridge. The growth is Pine on the Top and the Rocks look 
white at a distance. We went Seven miles this day. 

4th. We kept imder the Rocky Ridge crossing several small Branches 
to the Head of Holly Creek. We saw many small Licks and plenty of 
Deer. 



Washington Connfi/, 1777-1870. 799 

April 5tli. We went down Holly Creek. There is much Holly in the 
Low Grounds & some Laurel and Ivy. About 3 in the afternoon, the Ridge 
appeared less stony and we passed it and Camped on a small Branch 
about a mile from the top. My riding Horse choaked himself this Even- 
ing and I drenched him with water to wash down the Reeds, and it an- 
swered the End. 

6th. It ju'oving wet we did not move. 

7th. We rode 8 miles over broken Land. It snowed most of the day. 
Ill the Evening our dogs caught a large He Bear, which before we could 
come up to shoot him had wcnmded a dog of mine, so that he could not 
Travel, and we carried him on Horseback, till he recovered. 

8th. The Sabbath. Still snow. 

9th. We travelled to a river, which I suppose to be that which the 
hunters Call Clinche's River, from one Clinch a Hunter, who first found it. 
We marked several Beeches on the East side. We could not find a ford 
Shallow eneugh to caiTy om- Baggage over on our horses. Ambrose Powell 
Forded over on one horse, and we drove the others after him. We then 
irtade a Raft and carried over one Load of Baggage, but when the Raft 
was brought back it was so heavy that it would not carry anything more 
dry. 

April 10th. We waded and carried the remainder of our Baggage on our 
shoulders at two turns over the River, which is about one hundred and 
thirty yards wide. We went on about five miles and Camped on a small 
Branch. 

April 11th. Having travelled 5 miles to and over a High Mountain, we 
came to Turkey Creek, which we kept down 4 miles. It lies between two 
Ridges of Mountains, that to the Eastward being the highest. 

12th. We kept down the Creek 2 miles further, where it meets with a 
large Branch coming from the South West, and thence runs through the 
East Ridge making a very good Paiss; and a large Buifalo Road goes 
from that Fork to the Creek over the West Ridge, which we took and 
found the ascent and descent tolerably easie. From this Mountain we 
rode four miles to Beargi-ass River. Small Cedar Trees are very plenty 
on the flat giound nigh the River, and som<i Bai-berry trees on the East 
side of the River. On the Banks is some Beargiass. We kept up the 
River two miles. I found some Small pieces of Coal and a great plenty of 
very good yellow Flint. The water is the most transparent I ever saw. 
It is about 70 yds. wide. 

April 13tli. We went four miles to u large Creek, which we callfd Cedar 
Creek, being a Branch of Bear Grass, and from thence Six miles to Cave 
Gap, the land being level. On the North side of the Gap is a large Spring, 
which falls very fast, and just above the Spring is a small Entrance to a 
large Cave, which the Spring runs through, and there is a constant 
Stream of Cool air issuing out. The Spring is sufficient to turn a Mill. 
Just at the foot of the Hill is a Laurel Tliicket, and the Spring Water 
runs through it. On the South side is a plain Indian Road. On the top 
of the Ridge are Laurel Trees marked with Crosses, others blazed and 



800 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

several Figures on them. As I went down on the other Side, I soon came 
to some Laurel in the head of a Branch. A Beech stands on the left hand 
on which I cut my name. This Gap may be seen at a considerable dis- 
tance, and there is no other that I know of, except one about two miles 
to the North of it, which does not appear to be so low as the other. The 
Mountain on the North Side of the Gap is very Steep and Rocky, but on 
the Soiitlf Side it is not so. We called it Steep Ridge. At the foot of the 
111 11 oil ilie North West Side we came to a Branch, that made a great deal 
of flat Land. We kept down it 2 miles, Several other Branches coming in 
to make it a large Creek, and we called it Flat Creek. We camped on the 
Bank where we found very good Coal. I did not See any Lime Stone be- 
yond this Ridge. We rode 13 miles this day. 

April 14th. We kept down the Ci'eek 5 miles Chiefly along the Lidiaii 
Road. 

15tli. Easter Sunday. Being in bad grounds for our Horses we moved 
7 miles along the Indian Road, to Clover Creek. Clover and Hop Vines 
are plenty here. 

April 10th. Rai(n). I made a pair of Indian Shoos, those I brought out 
being bad. 

17th. Still rain. I went down the Ci'eek a hunting and found that it 
went into a Rivei- a] out a mile below our Camp. This, whicli is Flat 
Creek and some others joined, I called Cumberland River, 

18th. Still Cloudy. We kept down the Creek to the River along the In- 
dian Road to wlitre it crosses. Indians lived about this Ford Some years 
ago. We kept on down the South Side. After riding 5 miles from our 
Camp, we left the River, it being very crooked. In riding 3 miles we camr; 
on it again. It is about GO cr 70 yards wide, ^^"e rode 8 (?) miles this 
day. 

19th. We left the River but in four miles we came on it again at the 
Mouth of Licking Creek, which we went up and down another. In the 
Fork of Licking Creek is a Lick much used by Buffaloes and man.y large 
Roads lead to it. This afternoon Ambrose I'owell was bit by a Bear in 
his Knee. We rode 7 miles this day. 

20th. We kept down the Creek 2 miles to the River again. It appears 
not any wider here than at the mouth of Clover Creek, but much deeper. 
I thought it proper to cross the River and began a bark Canoe. 

April 21st. We finished the Canoe and tryed her. About noon it began 
to thunder, lighten, hail and rain prodigiously and continued about 2 hours. 

22nd. The Sabbath. One of the horses was found unable to walk this 
morning. I then propos'd that with 2 of the Company I would proceed, 
and the other three should Continue here till our return, which was agreed 
to and Lots were drawn to determine who should go, they all being de- 
sirous of it. Ambrose Powell and Colby Chew were the fortunate Persons. 

23rd. Having carried our Baggage over in the bark Canoe and Swum our 
horses, we all crossed the River. Then Ambrose Powell, Colby Chew and 
I departed. Leaving the others to provide and salt some Bear, build an 
house, and plant some Peach Stones and Corn. We travelled about 12 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 8<)l 

miles and encamped on Crooked Creek. The mountains are very small 
hereabouts and here is a great deal of flat Land. We got through the 
Coal to-day. 

April 24th. We kept on Westerly 18 miles, got Clear of the niountain'5 
and found the Land poor and the woods very Thick beyond them, and 
Laurel & Ivy in and near the Branches. Our Horses suffered very much 
here for want of food. This day we Came on the fresh Track of 7 or 8 
Indians, but could not overtake them. 

25th. We kept on West 5 miles, the Land continuing much the Same, the 
Laurel rather glowing worse, and the food scarcer. I got up a tree on a 
RiHge and saw the Gro\vth of the Land much the same as Far as my Sight 
could reach. I then concluded to return to the rest of my Company. I 
kept on my track 1 mile then tui-n'd Southerly & went to Cumberland 
River at the mouth of a water Course, that I named llocky Creek. 

26th. The Ptiver is 150 yards wide and appears to be navigable from this 
place almost to the mouth of Clover Creek. Rocky Creek runs within 40 
yards of the River Bank then turns off, and runs up the River, surround- 
ing about 25 acres of Land before it falls into the River. The Banks of 
the River and Creek are a sufficient Fence almost all the way. On the 
Lower Side of the mouth of the Creek is an Ash marked T. W., a Red 
Oak A. P., a white Hickory C. C, besides several Trees blazed Several 
ways with 3 Chops over each blaze. We went up the North Side of the 
River 8 miles, and Camped on a Small Branch. A Bear Broke one of my 
Dogs forelegs. 

April 27tli. We crossed Indian Creek and went down Meadow Creek to 
the River. There Comes in another from the Southward as big as this 
we are on. Below the mouth of this Creek and above the mouth are the 
remains of Several Indian Cabins and amongst them a round Hill made 
by Art about 20 feet high and GO over the Top. We went up the River, and 
Camped on the Bank. 

28th. \^'e kept up the River to our Company whom we found all well, 
but the lame Horse was as bad as we left him, and another had been bit 
in the Nose by a Snake. I rub'd the wounds with Bear's oil, and gave him 
a drench of the same and another of the decoction of Rattle Snake root 
some time after. The People I left had built a House 12 bj^ 8, cleared and 
broke up some ground & planted Corn and Peach Stones. They also 
had killed several Bears and cured the meat. This day Colby Chew and 
his Horse fell down the Bank. I bled and gave him Volatile drops, & he 
soon recovered. 

April 29th. The Sabbath. The bitten Horse is better. 3 quarters of 
a mile below the House is a Pond in the Low Ground of the River, a 
Quarter of a mile in Length and 200 yds. wide much frequented by Fowl. 

30th. I blazed a way from our House to the River. On the other side 
of the River is a large Elm cut down and barked about 20 feet and an- 
other standing just by it with the bark cut around at the root and about 
15 feet above. About 200 yards below this is a white Hickory Barked 
about 15 feet. The depth of water here, when the lowest that I have seen 



802 Southwest Virginia, 17Ji6-J7Sn. 

it, is about 7 or 8 feet, the Bottom of the River Sandy, ye Banks very 
high, & tlie Current very slow. The bitten Horse beino; much mended, 
we set oflt' and left the lame one. He is \\hite, branded on the near But- 
tock with a swivil Stirrup Iron, and is old. We left the River and having 
Crossed Several Hills and Branches, Camped in a Valley North from the 
House. 

May 1st. Another Horse being bit, I applyed Bear's Oil as before men- 
tioned. We got to Powell's River in the afternoon and went down it 
along an Indian Road, much frequented, to the mouth of a. Creek on the 
West side of the River, wliere we camped. The Indian Road goes up the 
Creek, and I think it is that Which goes through Cave Gap. 

2nd. We kept down the River. At the mouth of a Creek that oomes 
in on the East side is a Lick, and I believe there was a hundred Buffaloes 
at it. About 2 o'clock we had a Shower of rain. We camped on the River, 
which is very crooked. 

May 3rd. We crossed a narrow Neck of Land, came on the River again 
and kept down it to an Indian Camp, that had been built this Spring, and 
in it we took up our Quarters. It began to rain about Noon and continued 
until Night. 

4th. We crossed a narrow Neck of Land and came on the River again, 
which we kept down till it turn'd to the Westward, we then left it, and 
went up a Creek, which we Called Colby's Creek. The River is about 50 
yards over where we left it. 

5th. We got to Tomlison's River, which is about the size of Powell's 
River, and I cut my name on a Beech, that stands on the North Side of 
the River. Here is plenty of Coal in the South Bank opposite to our 
Camp. 

Gth. Tlie Sabbath. I saw Goslings, which shows that Wild Geese stay 
here all the year. Ambrose Powell had the misfortune to sprain his well 
knee. 

7th. We went down Tomlison's River the Land being very broken and 
our way embarrassed by trees, that had been blown down about 2 years 
ago. 

Ma}' 8th. We went up a Creek on the North Side of the River. 

9tR. We got to Lawlesse's River which is much like the others. The 
Mountains here are very Steep and on Some of them there is Laurel and 
Ivy. The tops of the Mountains are very Rocky and some part of the 
Rocks seem to be composed of Shells, Nuts and many other Substances 
petrified and cemented together with a kind of Flint. We left the River 
and after travelling some Miles we got among Trees that had been blown 
down about 2 years, and were obliged to go down a Creek to the River 
again, the Small Branches and Mountains being impassable. 

10th. We Staid on the River, and dressed an Elk skin to make Indian 
Shoes — most of ours being quite worn out. 

11th. We left the River, found the Alountains very bad, and got to a 
Rock by the side of a Creek sufficient to shelter 200 men from Rain. 



]yashingto}i Conntij, 1777-1S70. 803 

Finding it so convenient, we concluded to stay and put our Elk skin in 
order for shoes and make them. 

12th. Under the Rock is a Soft Kind of Stone almost like Alum in 
tsLste; below it a Layer of Coal about 12 inches thick and white Clay under 
that. I called the Eun Alum Creek. I have obsen-ed several mornings 
past, that the Trees begin to drip just before day & continue dripping 
till about Sim rise, as if it rain'd slowly. We had some rain this day. 

13th. The Sabbath. 

14th. When our Elk Skin was prepared we had lost every Awl that we 
had brought out, and I made one with the Shank of an old Fishing hook, 
the other People made two of Horse Shoe Nailes, and with these we made 
our Shoes or Moccosons. We wrote several of our Names with Coal under 
the Rock, & I wrote our names, the time of our comeing and leaving this 
place on paper and stuck it m to the Rock with Mortar, and then set off. 
We Qrossed Hughes's River and Lay on a large Branch of it. There is no 
dew this morning but a shower of Rain about 6 oclock. The River is 
about 50 yards wide. 

]\Iay 15th. Laurel and Ivy increase upon us as we go up the Branch. 
About noon it began to rain & we took up our Quarters in a Valley be- 
tween very Steep Hills. 

16th. We crossed Several Ridges and Branches. About two in the after- 
noon, I was taken with a Violent Pain in my Hip. 

17th. Laurel and Ivj are very plentiful and the Hills still very steep. 
The Woods have been burnt some years past, and are now very thick, the 
Timber being almost all kill'd. We Camped on a Branch of Naked Creek. 
The pain in my Hip is something asswaged. 

18th. We went up ^Jaked Creek to the head and had a plain Buffalo 
Road most of the way. From thence we proceeded down Wolf Creek and 
on it we Camped. 

19th. We kept down ye Creek to Hunting Creek, which we crossed and 
left. It rained most of the afternoon. 

May 20th. The Sabbath. It began to Rain about Noon and continued 
till next day. 

21st. Left off raining about 8. We crossed several Ridges and Small 
Branches & Camped on a Branch of Hunting Creek. In the Evening it 
rained veiy hard. 

22nd. We went down the Branch to Hunting Creek & kept it to Milley'a 
River. 

23rd. We attempted to go down the River but could not. We then 
Crossed Hunting Creek and attempted to go up the River but could not. 
It being very deep we began a Bark Canoe. The River is about 90 or 100 
yards wide. I blazed several Trees in the Fork and marked T. W. on a 
Sycamore Tree 40 feet around. It has a large Hole on the N: W: side 
about 20 feet from the Giound and is divided into 3 Branches just by the 
hole, and it stands about 80 yards above the mouth of Hunting Creek. 

May 24th. We finished the Canoe and crossed the River about noon, and 
I marked a Sycamore 30 feet round and several Beeches on the North side.- 



804 Southwest Virginia, 174G-1780. 

of the River opposite to the nioiiih of the Creek. Game is very scarce 
hereabouts. 

25th. It began to rain before day and continued till about noon. We 
travelled about 4 miles on a Ridge and Camped on a small Branch. 

26th. We kept down the Branch almost to the River, and up a Creek, and 
then along a Ridge till our Dogs roused a large Buck Elk, Which we fol- 
lowed down to a Creek. He killed Ambrose Powell's Dog in the Chase, and 
we named the Run Tumbler's Creek, the Dog being of that Name. 

27th. The Sabbath. 

28th. Cloudy. We could not get our Horses till almost Night, when we 
went down the Branch. We lay on to the main Creek, and turn'd up it. 

May 29th. We proceeded up the Creek 7 miles, and then took a North 
Branch & went up it five miles and then encamped on it. 

30th. We went to the head of the Branch we lay on 12 miles. A shower 
of Rain fell this day. The Woods are burnt fresh about here and are the 
only fresh burnt Woods we have seen these Six Weeks. 

31st. We crossed 2 Mountains and Camped just by a Wolf's Den. They 
were very impudent and after they had been twice shot at, they kept 
howling about the Camp. It rained till Noon this day. 

June ye 1st. We fovuid the Wolf's Den and caught 4 of the young ones. 
It rained this morning. We went up a Creek, crossed a mountain and 
went through a Gap, and then, camped on the head of A Branch. 

2nd. We went down the Branch to a River 70 yards wide, which I called 
Frederick's River. We kept up it a half a mile to a Ford, where we crossed 
and proceeded upon the North Side 3 miles. It rained most of the after- 
noon. Elks are very plenty on this River. 

June 3rd. Whit- Sunday. It rained most of the day. 

4th. I blazed several trees four ways on the outside of the low Grounds 
by a Buffalo Road, and marked my Name on several Beech Trees. Also 
I marked some by the River side just below a "mossing" place with an 
Island in it. We left the River about 10 o'clock & got to Falling Creek, 
and went up it till 5 in the afternoon, when a very black Cloud appear- 
ing, we turn'd out our Horses, got tent Poles up, and were just stretching 
a Tent, when it began to rain and hail, and was succeeded by a violent 
Wind which Blew down our Tent & a great many Trees about it, several 
large ones within 30 yds. of the Tent. We all left the place in confusion 
and ran dilferent ways for shelter. After the Storm Avas over, we met at 
the Tent, and found all safe. 

5th. There was a violent Shower of Rain before day. This morning 
we went up the Creek about 3 miles, and then were obliged to leave it, 
the Timber being so blown down that we could not get through. After we 
left the Creek we kept on a Ridge 4 miles, then turned down to the head 
of a Branch, and it began to rain and continued raining very hard till 
Night. 

June 6th. We went dowTi the Branch till it became a large Creek. It 
runs very Swift, falling more than any of the Branches we have been on 
of late. I called it Rapid Creek. After we had gone 8 miles we could not 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 805 

ford, and we Camped in the low Ground. There is great sign of Indians on 
this Creek. 

7th. The Creek being fordable, we Crossed it & kept down 12 miles to a 
River about 100 yards over, which we called Louisa River. The Creek is 
about 30 yards wide, & part of ye River breaks into ye Creek — making 
an Island on which we Camped. 

8th. The River i,s so deep we cannot ford it and as it is falling we con- 
cluded to staj' and hunt. In the afternoon, Mr. Powell and my Self was a 
hunting about a mile & a half from the Camp, and heard a gun just below 
us on the other side of the River, and as none of our People could cross, 
I was in hopes of getting some direction from the Person, but could not 
find him. 

June 9th. We crossed the River & went down it to the mouth of a Creek 
& up the Creek to the head and over a Ridge into a Steep Valley and 
Camped. 

10th. Trinity Sunday. Being in very bad ground for our Horses, we 
concluded to move. We were very much hindered by the Trees, that were 
blown down on Monday last. We Camped on a Small Branch. 

nth. It rained violently in the Latter part of the Night & till 9 o'Clock. 
The Branch is impassable at present. We lost a Tomahawk and a Cann 
by the Flood. 

12th. The Water being low Ave went down the Branch to a large Creek, 
& up the Creek. Many of the trees in the Branches are Wash'd up by 
the Roots and others barked by the old trees, that went down ye Stream. 
The Roots in the Bottom of the Runs are Barked by the Stones. 

June 1.3th. We are very much hindered by the Gust & a shower of Rain 
about Noon. Game is very scarce here, and the mountains very bad, the 
tops of the Ridges being so covered with Ivy and the sides so steep and 
stony that we were obliged to cut our way through with our Tomahawks. 

14th. The Woods are still bad and Game scarce. It rained to-day about 
Noon & we Camped on the top of A Ridge. 

loth- 16th. We got on a large Creek where Turkey are plenty and some 
Elks. We went a hunting & killed 3 Turkeys. Hunted & killed 3 Bears 
& some Turkeys. 

17th. The Sabbath. We killed a large Buck Elk. 

ISth. Having prepared a good stock of Meat, we left the Creek cross- 
ing several Bi'anches and Ridges. The Woods still continuing bad the 
weather hot & our Horses so far spent, that we are all obliged to walk. 

June 19th. We got to Laurel Creek early this morning, and met so im- 
pudent a Bull Buffalo that we were obliged to shoot him, or he would 
have been amongst us. We then went up the Creek six miles, thence up a 
North Branch of it to the Head, and attempted to cross a mountain, but 
jt proved so high and diflicult, that we were obliged to Cam]) on tlie side 
of it. This Ridge is nigh the eastern edge of the Coal Land. 

20th. We got to the top of the Mountain and Could discover a flat to 
the South & South East. We went down from the Ridge to a Branch and 
down the Branch to Laurel Creek not far from where we left it yester- 



806 Southwest Virginia, 17J,6-1786. 

day & Camped. My riding Horse was bit by a Snake this day, and hav- 
ing no Bear's Oil I rub'd the place with a piece of fat meat, which had the 
desired effect. 

21st. We found the Level Nigh the Creek so Full of Laurel that Ave were 
obliged to go up a Small Branch, and from the head of that to the Creek 
again, and found it good travelling a Small distance from the Creek. We 
Camped on the Creek. Deer are very scarce on the Coal Land. I have 
seen but 4 since the 30th of April. 

June 22nd. We kept up to the head of the Creek, and the Land being 
Leveller than we have lately seen, and here are some large Savanna's. 
Many of the Branches are full of Laurel and Ivy. Deer and Bears are 
plenty. 

23rd. Land continues level with Laurel and Ivy & we got to a large 
Creek with very high & steep Banks full of Rocks which I called Clifty 
Creek, the Rocks are 100 feet perpendicular in some Places. 

24th. The Sabbath. 

25th. We Crossed Clifty Creek. Here is a little Coal and the Land still 
flat. 

26th. We crossed a Creek that we called Dismal Creek, the Banks being 
the worst and the Laurel the thickest I have seen. The Land is Moun- 
tainous on the East Side of the Dismal Creek, and the Laurels end in a 
few miles. We Camped on a Small Branch. 

June 27th. The Land is very high & we crossed several Ridges and 
camped on a small Branch. It rained about Noon and continued till the 
next day. 

28th. It continued raining till Noon, and we set off as soon as it ceased 
and went down the Branch we lay on to the New River just below the 
mouth of Green Bryer. Powell, Tomlison and myself stripped, and went 
into the New River to try if we could wade over at any place. After 
some time having found a place we returned to the others and took such 
things as would take damage by water on our Shoulders, and waded over 
Leading our Horses. The bottom is very uneven, the Rocks very slippery 
and the Current very Strong most of the way. We Camped in the Low 
Ground opposite to the mouth of Green Bryer. 

29th. We kept up Green Bryer. It being a wet day we went only 2 
miles, and Camped on the North Side. 

June 30th. We went 7 miles up the River, which is very crooketl. 

July ye 1st. The Sabbath. Our Salt being almost spent We travelled 10 
miles, sometimes on the River and at other times some distance from it. 

2nd. We kept up the River the chief part of the day and we travelled 
about 10 miles. 

3rd. We went up the River 10 miles to-day. 

4th. We went up the River 10 miles through very bad Woods. 

5th. The way growing worse we travelled 9 miles only. 

6th. We left the River. The low giounds on it are of very little Value, 
but on the Branches are very good, and there is a great deal of it, and 
the high land is very good in many places. We got on a large Creek called 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 807 

Anthony's Creek, which affords a great deal of Very good Land, and it is 
chiefly bought. We kept up the creek 4 miles and Camped. This Creek took 
its Name from an Indian, called John Anthony, that frequently hunts in 
these Woods. There are some inhabitants on the Branches of Green Bryer, 
but we missed their Plantations. 

July 7th. We kept up the Creek, and about Noon 5 men overtook us and 
inform'd us we were only 8 miles from the inhabitants on a Branch of 
James River called Jackson's River. We exchanged some Tallow for Meal 
and parted. We Camped on a Creek nigh the top of Alleghany Ridge, 
which Ave named Ragged Creek. 

8th. Having Shaved, Shifted, & made new Shoes, we left our useless 
Raggs at ye Camp & got to Walker Johnston's about Noon. We moved 
over to Robert Armstrong's in the Afternoon & staid there all Night. 
Tlie People here are very hospitable and would be better able to support 
Travellers was it not for the great number of Indian Warriors, that fre- 
quently take what they want from them, much to their prejudice. 

July fith. We went to the hot Springs and found Six Invalids there. 
The Spring W^ater is very Clear & warmer than new Milk, and there is a 
spring of cold Water within 20 feet of the Warm one. I left one of my 
Company this day. 

10th. Having a Path we rode 20 miles & lodged at Captain Jemyson's 
below the Panther Gap. Two of my Company went to a Smith to get 
their Horses Shod. 

11th. Our Way Mending, We travelled 30 miles to Augusta Court 
House, where I found JVIi*. Andrew Johnston, the first of my acquaintance 
I liad seen since the 26th day of March. 

12th. Mr. Johnston lent me a fresh Horse and sent my Horses to Mr. 
David Steward's, who was so kind as to give them Pasturage. About 
8 o'clock I set oflf leaving all my Company. It began to rain about 2 in 
the Aftei-noon & I lodged at Capt. David Lewis's, about 34 miles from 
Augusta Court House. 

13th. I got home about Noon. 

We killed on the Journey 13 Buffaloes, 8 Elks, 53 Bears, 20 Deer, 4 
Wild Geese, about 150 Turkeys, besides small Game. We might have 
killed three times as much meat if we had wanted it. 



808 



Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-17S6. 



First Lands Surveyed on the Waters of the Holston and 
Clinch Rivers of which Any Record is Preserved. 





SURVEY OR'S RECORD OF FINCASTLE COUNTY. 


Surveyed by JoJin Floyd, Eohert Doach, Robert Preston and Francis Smith. 








ACRES 




Mar. 15, 16,74. 


Wm. Edmiston, . . . 


lUOO 


and 1000 bet. M. & S. Forks. 










Holston. 


April 16, 


1774. 


John Campbell, . . . 


200 


Rich Valley, W. North Fork. 


Feb. 19, 


1774. 


Benj. Logan, 


250 


Beaver Creek. 


15, 


1774. 


Lewis Pitts, 


154 


North Fork. 


22, 


1774. 


Benj. Hawkins, . . . 


365 


Wolf Creek. 


21, 


1774. 


Nathaniel Davis, . . 


118 


Beaver Creek, N. Fork. 


23, 


1774. 


Elias Moore, 


400 


on Middle Fork of Holston. 


15, 


1774. 


Anthony Herd, .... 


210 


Rich Valley, North Fork. 


21, 


1774. 


John Davis, 


275 


Beaver Creek. 


Jan. 22, 


1774. 


Daniel MeCormiek,. 


330 


Middle Fork. 


24, 


1774. 


Colin McKinney, . . 


103 


Cedar Creek. 


24, 


1774, 


Benj. Maiden, 


90 


Waters North Fork. 


24, 


1774. 


James Bryan, 


475 


Waters Middle Fork. 


24, 


1774, 


Andrew Kincannon, 


200 


Waters Middle Fork. 


24, 19, 74. 


Francis Kincannon.. 


33 


& 546 N. & M. Fork of Hols'n. 


24, 


1774. 


Joseph Lester, .... 


153 


Middle Fork. 


18, 


1774. 


Alex. Wiley, 


235 


Middle Fork. 


20, 


17/4. 


Robert Shannon, . . 


258 


Bear Creek, M. Fork Holston. 


21, 


1774. 


Robert Crow, 


241 


Hungers Mother, Br'ch of M. F 


21, 


1774. 


Ed. Pharez, 


115 


Waters Middle Fork. 


24, 


1774. 


Wm. Lockhart, . . . 


215 


Waters Middle Fork. 


22, 


1774. 


John Wiley, 


234 


Waters IMiddle Fork. 


12, 


1774. 


Thomas Crow, .... 


226 


Waters M. F., nr. bend thereof. 


13, 


1774. 


David Phillips, . . . 


155 


Waters Middle Fork. 


21, 


1774. 


Edward Crow, .... 


299 


Waters Middle Fork. 


24, 


1774. 


Thos. McCulloch, . . 


290 


Waters of North Fork. 


12, 


1774. 


James Cameron, . . 


29 


Holston. 


24, 


1774. 


Samuel Simpson, . . 


140 


Middle Fork. 


22, 


1774. 


Samuel McHenry, . 


95 


Eleven-Mile Creek. 


14, 


1774. 


John Boyd, 


260 


East side Middle Fork. 


11, 


1774. 


Francis Delaney, . . 


155 


Waters Middle Fork. 


11, 


1774. 


John Kirk, 


290 


Waters Middle Fork. 


15, 


1774. 


George Adams, .... 


535 


Holston. 


Feb. 4, 


1774. 


Roger Topp, 


400 


Holston. 



Wasliiiigton Coiiniy, 1777-1870. 



809 



Feb. 


5, 


1774. 


Jan. 


16, 


1774. 




5, 


1774. 




17, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 


Feb. 


5, 


1774. 




4, 


1774. 


Jan. 


25, 


1774. 




27, 


1774. 




27, 


1774. 




12, 


1774. 


Mar. 


14, 


1774. 


Jan. 


25, 


1774. 


Mar. 


14, 


1774. 




6, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




10, 


1774. 


Jan. 


20, 


1774. 


Mar. 


13, 


1774. 




8, 


17/4. 




12, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




10, 


1774. 




12, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




12, 


1774, 


Jan. 


13, 


1774. 




20, 


1774. 




29, 


1774. 




27, 


1774. 


Feb. 


13, 


1774. 




19, 


1774. 




28, 


1774. 




10, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




5, 


1774. 




8, 


1774. 




7, 


1774. 




11, 


1774. 




8, 


1774. 




17, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




16, 


. 1774. 




16, 


1774. 




15, 


1774. 




12, 


1774. 



ACRES. 

John Bealer, 290 

Greorge Lester, 60 

Alex. Laughlin, .... 395 

Jonathan Wood, ... 160 

Arthur Blackburn,.. 130 

Daniel Miller, 340 

Henry Turney, 340 

George Clark, 380 

Samuel Henrj^, .... 204 

Wm. ]\lontgoniery,. . . 224 

Robert Buchanan, . . 210 

David Remey, 261 

Arthur Gilbreath, .. 356 

James Bishop, 351 

John Parker, 322 

Wm. Lewis, 176 

Mitchell Borden, . . . 282 

Abraham Stailey, . . 152 

Jos. Cole, 221 

Jos. Cole, 278 

Martin Gash, 195 

Henry Bowen, 426 

Matthew Evans, ... 197 

Matthew Bishop, ... 77 

John Thomas, 404 

Ihomas Baker, 328 

John Kelly, 190 

Shadraek Newton, . . 133 

Nicholas Fain, 230 

Wm. McGaughy, ... 235 

John Riley, 120 

Jos. Snodgrass, .... 390 

John Fain, 30 

John Johnson, 230 

David Meachin, .... 45 

James Elliott, 560 

Daniel Miller, 340 

Thomas Fugate, .... 140 

Jo. Beattie, 226 

Wm. Cox, 220 

David Steele, 290 

Ed. Bond, 320 

Margaret Elliott, . . . 430 

John Edmiston, . . . 345 

James Sproul, 220 

Isaac Bledsoe, 300 

John Cearnes, 108 



Beaver Ci'eek. 

Middle Fork. 

Sinking Creek. 

Middle Fork. 

Waters M. F. 

Cedar Branch, W. Beaver C'k. 

Waters of Holston. 

M. F. Eleven-Mile Creek. 

S. P. Fifteen-Mile Creek. 

S. F. Fifteen-Mile Creek. 

M. F. 

Waters S. Fork. 

Waters M. Fork. 

Waters S. ForK. 

Crab Orchard Cr., Br. Holston. 

South Fork. 

South Fork. 

Middle Fork. 

South Fork. 

South Fork. 

South Fork. 

W. S. Fork of Holston. 

W. S. Fork of Holston. 

S. F. of Holston. 

W. S. F., Holston. 

Reedy Hill Cr., S. F. Holston. 

S. Branch Holston River. 

N. Branch Holston River. 

on Wolf Hill Cr., S. F. of Hol'n. 

on Head Sugar Tree Draft. 

Holston Sinking Creek. 

W. M. F. Holston. 

Wolf Hill Cr. Br., S. F. of Hoi. 

Sinking Creek, Br. Holston. 

Steel's Creek. 

Watei's of Holston. 

Cedar Br., W. Beaver iHreek. 

Reedy Creek. 

& 360 Waters of Holston. 

Reedy Creek. 

Br. Steele's Creek. 

Beaver Creek. 

Reedy Creek. ' 

S. F. of Holston. 

Rich Valley. 

W. Is. F. of Holston. % 

W. Reedv Creek. ' 



810 



Southwest Virginia^ 17JfG-178G. 



Feb. 


16 


1774. 




12 


1774. 




16 


1774. 


Mar. 


15 


1774. 


Feb. 


16 


1774. 




16 


1774. 




1 


1774. 




12 


1774. 




17 


1774. 


Jan. 


20 


1774. 


Feb. 


17 


1774. 




10 


1774. 




17 


17/4. 




11 


1774. 




18 


1774. 


Feb. 


10 


1774. 


Jan. 


28 


1774. 


Feb. 


11 


1774. 




10 


1774. 




21 


1774. 


Jan. 


21 


1774. 


Feb. 


16 


1774. 




10 


1774. 




9 


1774. 




11 


1774. 




18 


1774. 




18 


1774. 




20 


1774. 




21 


1774. 


Mar. 


14, 


1774. 


Jan. 


28 


1774. 


Feb. 


3 


1774. 




19 


1774. 


Jan. 


28 


1774. 


Feb. 


12 


1774. 




12 


1774. 




10 


1774. 


Mar. 


21, 


1774. 


May 


4 


1774. 


Mar. 


4, 


1774. 




31 


1774. 


May 


17 


, 1774. 




21 


1774. 




4, 


1774. 



George Steele, . . . 
Robert Snodgrass, 
Thomas Knight, . 
Moses Buchanan, 
Wm. Henderson, . 
John Robinson, . . 

John Dwen, 

John Adair, 

Thomas Jones ... 
David Snodgrass, 
Henry Grimes, . . 
Robert Steele, . . . 
Chris. Funkhoviser, 

John Berry, 

David Berry, .... 

Alex. Doran, 

James Steele, .... 
Francis Davis, . . . 
Jolin Donohue, . . 

John Hollis, 

Nath. Davis, 

James Doran, .... 
Abraham Ellis, . . 
Francis Scott, . • . 
Archibald McNeal, 
George Maxwell, . 
Wm. Hughes, .... 
Samuel Newell, . . 

John Roark, 

John Blackburn, . 
Samuel Edmiston, 
Robert Grama 11. . . 
T. King & J. Sharp 
James Roark, . 
Andrew Martin, 
Wm. Elliott, . . . 
^\'m. Anderson, 
John Donohue, . 
Anthony Bledsoe, 
Wm. Thompson, 
John Wilson, . . 
John Walker, . . 
Wm. Robertson, 
Henry Dickenson, 
John Havis, .... 



ACKES. 

95 Rich Valley. 
200 W. Reedy Creek. 

96 Rich Valley. 

170 South Fork Holston. 

160 Rich Valley, W. of N. Fork. 

180 Rich Valley, W. of N. Fork. 

104 M. F. of Holston. 
86 W. Reedy Creek. 

290 W. Beaver Creek. 

690 N. side of Holston. 

240 Beaver Creek. 

386 Kincaid Cr., Br. of Holston. 

160 W. Beaver Creek. 

139 W. Wolf Hill Creek. 

212 Beaver Creek. 

105 Head Cane Brake Sp'r Iron Mt. 
342 Kincaid Creek. 

280 Wolf Creek. 

254 K. Creek. 

162 W. of Holston. 

115 Beaver Creek. 

268 Wolf Creek. 

82 Rich Vauey, \v. of N. Fork. 

252 Waters of Holston. 

191 Kincaid Creek. 

113 Waters of Holston. 

220 Waters Beaver Creek. 

69 Waters Beaver Creek. 

93 Waters Beaver Creek. 
78 Waters Beaver Creek. 

200 W. M. Fork, north side. 

340 Fifteen-Mile Creek, west side. 

130 North Fork, north side. 

63 Waters Beaver Creek. 

110 Fifteen-Mile Creek, east side. 

270 Waters Reedy Creek. 

160 Waters Reedy Creek. 

330 Br. Holston River. 

740 Meeting House, Br. W. Holston. 

195 S. Fork Clinch River. 

279 Rich Valley. 

94 Sinking Creek. 
617 Castle's Woods. 

170 both sides Clinch River. 

227 foot Brushy Mt., both sides 

Leatherwood Run, Waters of 

Holston. 



Washington Coimiy, 1777-1870. 



811 



Mar. 


14, 


1774. 




14. 


1774. 




3, 


1774. 


April 


3, 


1774. 




2. 


1774. 




5, 


1774. 


Mar. 


20. 


1774. 


April 


5. 


1774. 


May 


0, 


1774. 




4, 


1774. 




23. 


1774. 


Mar. 


25, 


1774. 




4, 


1774. 




13, 


1774. 




21, 


1774. 




22 


1774. . 




26, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 


April 


5. 


1774. 




4. 


1774. 


Mar. 


25, 


1774. 


April 


-5, 


1774. 


May 


19. 


1774. 




15, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 




20, 


1774. 




26, 


1774. 




26, 


1774. 




20, 


1774. 


April 


5. 


1774. 




21, 


1774. 




7, 


1774. 




1, 


1774. 




5, 


1774. 


Mar. 


30. 


1774. 




26. 


1774. 


April 


5, 


1774. 


Mar. 


29, 


1774. 


May 


26, 


. 1774. 


April 


5. 


1774. 




3, 
3, 


1774. 
1774. 


MaA- 


31. 


1774. 



ACRES. 

Henry Smith, 464 

Daniel Smith, 673 

Philip Phillips, 120 

Samuel Cowan, .... 254 

Chris. Kilgore, 256 

David Cowan, 264 

John Carter, 92 

Joseph Moore, 334 

Samuel McAdams, . . 225 

James King, 132 

John Anderson, .... 64 
John Blackmoix?, . . . 515 

John Wilson, 270 

James Wilson, 253 

Fred. Fryley, 216 

Abraham McClelland, 343 
Thomas Carter, .... 197 
Samuel Ritchie, .... Ill 
Jas. Blackmore, .... 75 

Lewis Green, 91 

John Boles, 262 

Samuel McAdams, . . 147 

Isaac Crisman, 225 

Matthias MountiS, .. 243 
Matthias Mounts, . . 365 

John Heniy, 167 

John Anderson, .... 95 
Wm. Thompson, . . . 229 
Archilas Dickenson,. 310 
Humphr'y Dickenson, 310 
Arthur Campbell, . . 293 

James Burke, 96 

James Moore, 92 

John Crank 116 

Patrick Porter, 214 

John Smith, 224 

Rich. Staunton, .... 73 

Deal Cni-ter, 96 

Wm. Moore, 493 

oohn Blackmore, . . . 200 
Henry Hamblin, ... 310 

Wm. Trimble, 113 

David Guess, 434 

David Wharton, 218 

Abraham Crabtrec, .. 104 



June lU. 1774. Thomas Porter, 



144 



S. Fork Clinch River. 

Indian Cr., W^aters Cl'ch River. 

N. side & an island in C. River. 

both sides McKinney Run. 

E. side Falling Creek. 

Mill Creek. 

N. W. side Clinch River. 

S. Branch Clinch River. 

at end Morris' Knob. 

S. F. Clinch River. 

both sides Clinch River. 

Stoney Cr., N. side Cl'ch River. 

Rich Valley. 

foot Brushy Mountain. 

Clinch River, S. side. 

Sinking Waters Clinch, S. side. 

Clinch River, N. side. 

Clinch River, south side. 

Clinch River, north side. 

Clinch River, south side. 

in Castle's Woods. 

Clinch, N. side South Fork. 

Cove Creek. 

Castle Run, west side. 

S. W^aters Clinch River. 

Clinch, Waters South Fork. 

both sides Clinch. 

N. W. of South Fork. 

Clinch, on W. 

north side Clinch River. 

north side Clinch River. 

Copper Creek. 

Abb's Valley. 

Copper Creek. 

Falling Creek. W. side. 

in Castlewoods. 

Clinch, N. side. 

Clinch, N. side. 

Clinch, S. side. 

S. side bet. R'r Hills a, C. Cr. 

Clinch, N. side. 

Clinch, S. Waters. 

Sinking Waters, S. side Clincli. 

Clinch, S. side. 

Holston, bet. Pawpaw Bottom 

and Clay Lick. 
M. F. H., S. Branch. 



812 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



June 11, 1774. 





7, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




8, 


1774. 




11, 


1774. 


May 


31, 


1774. 


June 


8, 


1774. 


May 


30, 


1774. 




26, 


1774. 




27, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 


June 


11, 


1774. 




11, 


1774. 


May 


26, 


1774. 


June 


7, 


1774. 


May 


26, 


1774. 




7, 


1774. 


June 


8, 


1774. 




10, 


1774. 


May 


30, 


1774. 


June 


2, 


1774. 




1, 


1774. 


May 


27, 


1774. 




27, 


1774. 


June 


8, 


1774. 




1, 


1774. 




5, 


1774. 




7, 


1774. 


May 


5, 


1774. 


June 


5, 


1774. 




1, 


1774. 




2 


1774. 




7, 


1774. 


Mav 


28, 


1774. 


June 


7, 


1774. 


Jan. 


4, 


1775. 


Dec. 


2 


1774. 




3, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 




7, 


1774. 




15, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 




2, 


1774. 



ACRES. 

Elias Mackay, 124 

Conrad Henniger, . . 37 

Rich. Higgins, 119 

Chas. Campbell, 285 

James Fullen, 126 

Eouise Potter, 151 

Alex. Vance, 192 

Joseph Drake, 326 

John Fowler, 152 

Arthur Neal, 44 

James Crabtree, . . . 373 

Jeremiah Harrison,. . 412 

Hellen Dungins, .... 354 

Jonathan Dean, .... 60 

Wm. Crabtree, 98 

Rich. Humphreys, . . 404 

Humberson Lyon, . . 343 

Isaac Crabtree, 50 

Aaron Horn, 261 

Wm. Marlin, 151 

Wm. Fowler, 375 

Thomas Stern, 91 

Fred Stern, 238 

John Crabtree, 129 

Nathan Richison, ... 122 

Hanchrist Carlock, .. 126 

Fred Stern, 176 

John Hopton, 279 

Jeremiah Barnet, . . . 259 

Wm. Whitley, 142 

Justice Reynolds, ... 123 

Conrad Carlock, 168 

Samuel Scott, 94 

Samuel White, 45 

Abel Richison, 309 

George Hyce, 205 

Evan Shelby, 1000 

John Carson, 130 

Anthony Linder, .... 79 

David Linder, 150 

Jacob Mongle, 86 

Nathan Reid, 63 

James Davidson, ... 90 

Fred. Gobble, 32 

Job Cochran, 145 



S. Br. M. F. H'd Higgin's Mill 

Run. 
Middle Fork, N. side. 
Mill Creek. 

S. B. of Mid. F. of Holston. 
Carlock's Br. M. Fork. 
S. Branch. 
Beaver Creek. 
Carlock's Br., Middle Fork. 
Sinking Rock Br., N. F. 
North Fork. 
Beaver Creek. 

Sinking Rock Br., North F. 
Neils' Br., N. F. Head Spring. 
South Fork, 
North Fork. 
M. F. Neil's Branch. 
North Fork, both sides. 
Cedar Branch, head of. 
Middle Fork N. B. 
Neil's Branch, Middle F. 
Beaver Creek. 
Branch of Lick Run. 
Branch of Lick Run. 
Incld. Head Spring, Elkhorn 

Br., Waters of Holston. 
N. F. Sinking Branch. 
Mid. F. S. Br., Lick Run. 
M. Fork Clapboard Cabin Br. 
Neil Branch, Uiddle Fork. 
Middle Fork. 

Simpson Branch, Middle Fork- 
Middle Fork S. Branch. 
M. Fork Branch Lick Run. 
Middle Fork Lick Run. 
Middle Fork Dry Run. 
N. Fork Beaver Creek. 
Big Spring Branch Middle F. 
Beaver Creek. 
North Fork. 

North Fork, Rich Valley. 
North Fork. 
North Fork. 
North Fork. 

Moccasin Creek, North F. 
North Fork, north side. 
Ricl] Valley, North F. 



Dec. 


1, 


1774. 




6, 


1774. 




6, 


1774. 




15, 


1774. 




28, 


1774. 




1, 


1774. 




6, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 




13, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 




23, 


1774. 




3, 


1774. 




14, 


1774. 




31, 


1774. 


^31, 


1774. 


Jan. 


6, 


1775. 


Dee. 


5, 


1774. 




31, 


1774. 




5, 


1774. 


Jan. 


6, 


1775. 


Feb. 


2 


1774. 


Jan. 


27, 


1774. 


Dec. 


20, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 




28, 


1774. 




20, 


1774. 




28, 


1774. 




24, 


1774. 


Jan. 


12, 


1774. 


Dec. 


12, 


1774. 


Dec. 


6, 


1774. 




20, 


1774. 




6, 


1774. 




15, 


1774. 




27, 


1774. 




8, 


17/4. 




8, 


1774. 


Mar. 


15, 


1774. 


Dec. 


7, 


1774. 




12, 


1774. 




9, 


1774. 




21, 


1774. 




10, 


1774. 




8, 


1774. 




6, 


1774. 


Jan. 


fi, 


1775. 



Washington County, 1777-1810. 813 

Rich. Lynem, 160 North Fork Rich Valley. 

leter Anderson, .... 80 North Fork Rich Valley. 

Zach. Clemmons, . . . 160 North Fork. 

Jonathan Wood, .... 185 North Fork Moccasin Creek. 

Thomas McNeil, ... 125 South Fork Mill Creek. 

George Baker, 82 Waters M. F. HoLston. 

Michael Huflfaker,... 100 Rich VaJiey, North Fork. 

David Mongle, 90 North Fork. 

Robert Tate, 174 Moccasin Creek, North Fork. 

Isaac Newland, .... 175 North Fork. 

Abraham Newland,.. 175 Nortn Fork. 

John Robinson, 220 W. N. F. 

Wm. Huston, 535 MocKison Cr., Br. N. F. Hols'n. 

John Carmack, 470 Sinking Creek, Br. of Holston. 

Thomas Sharp, .... 580 Sinking Creek, Br. of Holston. 

Isaac Baker, 450 Beaver Creek. 

Wm. Crabtree, 79 Rich Valley, N. F. Holston. 

Thomas Raflferty, ... 335 Mill Creek. 

Peter Lee, 230 Rich Valley, North Fork. 

Alex. Laughlin, 590 W. Sinking Cr., incld. former 

survey. 

Wm. Davidson, 325 N. side Holston River. 

James Craig, 480 Middle Fork. 

Wm. T. Livingston,. 470 North I'ork. 

Wm. Samples, 85 North Fork. 

John Jones, 219 Waters of South Fork. 

John Sevier, 65 North Fork. 

Wm. Pruitt, 300 South Fork. 

Wm. Williams, 280 North Fork. 

Rich. Moore, 390 Beaver Creek. 

Jesse Cain, 75 North J^ork. 

John Fugate, 180 North Fork. 

Robert Carson, lt»o North Fork, Rich Valley. 

John Sevier, 200 North Fork. 

Jeremiah Hatfield, . . 140 North Fork Waters. 

John Frazier, 180 ]Mnckison Creek. 

Francis Whitney, . . 220 Mill CrecK. 

Rich. Brumley, .... 80 Branch North Fork. 

John Lovelace, 186 Rich Vaney. 

Moses Buchanan, ... 87 N. side S. Fork d Holston. 

Moses Keewood, . . . 180 Rich "Valley. 

John Tate, 145 Mockison Creek. 

John Patterson, .... 145 Rich Valley. 

Wm. Blackburn, 220 Branch of Holston. 

Halbert ]\IcClure, ... 208 N. side North F. Holston. 

Henry Pirtle, 142 Br. North Fork Holston. 

vieo. Hatfield, 120 ^V. North Fork of Holston. 

Henn' Harkleroad,. . 114 Beaver Creek. 



814 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



Feb. 
Jan. 
Feb. 
Jan. 
Feb. 
Jan. 

Feb. 
Dec. 



June 
Dec. 
Feb. 
Mar. 



Feb. 



Mar. 
Feb. 



12, 1774. 

12, 1775. 

4, 1774. 

31, 1774. 

12, 1774. 

7, 1775. 

15, 1774. 
1, 1774. 

7, 1774. 

8, 1774. 

16, 1774. 

3, 1774. 

17, 1774. 
8, 1775. 

4, 1774. 
14, 1776. 

22, 1775. 
31, 1775. 

1, 1775. 

27, 1775. 
11, 1/75. 

28, 1775. 

23, 1775. 

6, 1775. 
25, 1775. 

7, 1775. 

8, 1775. 
1, 1775. 
7, 1775. 

* 8, 1775. 



Robert Patterson, . 
Cornelius Carmack, 
George Riddle, . . 
James Phillips, . 
Robert Williams, 
John Carmack, . 

Wm. Bates, 

iJavid Dryden, . . 
Stephen Keewood, 



George Pirtle, . . 
Kasper Mansker, 
Jonas Smith, . . . 
Robert Trimble, . 
Samuel Davis, . . 
Nathaniel Davis, 
George Pearis, . . 
John Bradshaw, . 
Thomas Farley, . 
Wm. Allison, . . . 
David Campbell, 
John Morris, . . . 
John Vaught, . . . 
Thomas Worley, 
Henry Wagoner, 

John Crow, 

Chas. King 

John Campbell, . 

Lewis Abel, 

John Hays, 

Arthur Campbell, 



22, 1775. John Williams, 





24, 


1775. 


John Jakes, . . . 


. . . 249 




24, 


1775. 


Hugh Johnson. 


... 341 




28, 


1775. 


John INIorrison, 


... 271 




23, 


1775. 


Jonatlian Dean, 


... 203 




23, 


1775. 


Henry Vice, . . . 


... 329 




28, 


1775. 


Alex. Campbell, 


... 173 




27, 


1775. 


David McCord, . 


... 218 




27, 


1775. 


Robert Preston, 


... 154 


June 


16, 


1774. 


Robert Buchanan 


, .. 722 


April 


— , 


1774. 


Wm. Ellis, .... 


... 200 


Mar. 


10, 


1774. 


Jos. Cole, Jr., . . 


... 215 



ACRES, 

170 

100 

310 
. 200 
, 125 
. 97 
. 130 
, 160 
, 50 

. 190 
. 190 
. 270 
. 220 
. 364 
. 115 
. 95 
. 335 
. 355 
. 150 
. 141 
. 131 
. 390 
. 612 
. 476 
. 210 
. 177 
. 156 
. 249 
. 308 
. 279 

. 134 



Reedy Creek. 

Beaver Creek. 

Branch of Holston. 

Wolf Hill Creek. 

Reedy Creek. 

Sinking Creek. 

Br. Middle Fork Holston. 

N. side South Fork Holston. 

Rich Valley, Drm. in Colonel 

Byrd's Reg. 
Rich Valley. 
Mockison Creek. 
Branch of Holston. 
Mockison Creek. 
H'd Waters M. F. of Holston. 
Beaver Creek. 

foot Big Spr. Mt., W. New Ri'r. 
Plumb Cr., Br. N. F. of Hols'n. 
Cumberson Bottom, New River. 
Br. Laurel Fork, Waters S. F. 
Middle Fork. 
Middle Fork. 
South Fork. 
South Fork. 

Dividing Ridge Hoi. & Reed C. 
Hungers Mother, Br. Mid. F. 
Hays' Spring, Br. Middle F. 
Middle Fork. 

Joining Iron Mt., S. «ide S. F. 
Spence Creek, Br. Middle Fork. 
M. F. bet. Gooseberry Garden 

and Royal Oak. 
N. Br. M. F., above Seven-Mile 

Ford. 
Middle F., oppo. Aspin Bottom. 
N. Br. Middle Fork of Holston. 
South i*ork. 
N. side South Fork. 
North side Soutn Fork. 
North side South Fork. 
S. F., includ. head Sp'g thereof. 
Laurel Fork of Holston. 
Head Waters of Holston. 
Flat Rock, Br. Waters of N. F. 
Waters South Fork. 



*Now Marion, Va. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 



815 



Jan. 


29, 1774. 


Mar. 


10, 1774. 


Jan. 


28, 1774. 


Feb. 


21, 1775. 




21, 1/75. 




20, 1775. 


Dec. 


16, 1774. 


Mar. 


2, 1775. 




2, 1775. 


Feb. 


4, 1775. , 




22, 1775. 




24, 1775. 




25, 1775. 




27, 1775. 


Mar. 


1, 1775. 




1, 1775. 




2, 1775. 


Feb. 


21, 1775. 




Z8, 1775. 




22, 1775. 


Mar. 


2, 1775. 


Feb. 


28, 1775. 


Mar. 


4, 1775. 


Feb. 


24, 1775. 


May 


16, 1775. 




18, 1775. 




19, 1775. 




17, 1775. 




15, 1775. 




12, 1773. 




20, 1775. 




15, 1775. 




16, 1775. 




19, 1775. 




12, 1775. 




20, 1775. 




20, 1775. 




20, 1775. 


Mar. 


21, 1775. 



ACRES. 

Wm. Lester, 250 

Wm. McMullin, 250 

Arthur Gilbreath, .. 255 

Wm. Campbell, 1345 

Arthur Campbell, ..1^15 

John Sharp 100 

J. Dysart, W. Miller, 200 

John Hays, 234 

Wm. Richison, 157 

John HaA'en, 176 

Andrew Lamie, 110 

Henry Dougherty, . . 240 

John Campbell, 260 

Wm. McElheny, 250 

Isaac Spratt, 264 

John Spratt, 232 

Andrew Steel, 85 

Benj. Watson, 184 

Wm. Hays, 224 

Arch. Buchanan, . . . 266 

John Bowyer, 180 

Chas. Blackly, 180 

Wm. Davies, 573 

Robert Preston, .... 315 

Andrew Leaper, .... 270 

John Gross, 200 

Reuben Thomas, .... 100 

Alex. McClure, 570 

Griffith Lewis, 192 

Wm. Allison. 224 

Wm. Lamie 250 

Joshua Jones, 273 

Wm. Lewis, 204 

Robert Lamie, 206 

Robert Allison, 340 

Daniel Johnson, .... 243 

Wm. Patterson, .... 143 

James Scroggs, .... 145 

Francis Hynes, .... 144 



Poplar Grove, Br. of Holston. 

South i'ork. 

Middle ForK. 

Aspinvale. 

Royal Oak, Middle Fork. 

Beaver Creek. 

Mockison Creek. 

Rich Valley. 

Waters North Fork Holston. 

Sugar Tree Bot'm, W. N. Ri'r. 

Cove Creek, N. F. Holston. 

Big Creek, waters N. F. of Hoi. 

Rich Valley. 

Rich Valley, North Fork. 

Waters N. Fork of Holston. 

North Fork. 

Lick Creek, waters North Fork. 

Rich Valley. 

North Fork. 

Locust Cove, North Fork. 

Lick Creek, N. F. of Holston. 

Lick Creek, N. F. of Holston. 

both sides Beaver Dam C. the 

Bend. 
Rich Valley. 

Waters South F. Holston. 
south side South Fork, 
south side South Fork. 
South F. Holston. 
Two-Mile Cr., Br. S. F. Holston. 
Head Waters S. Fork Holston. 
Waters Mid. F. of Holston. 
One-Mile Cr., Waters S. F. Hoi. 
south side S. F. of Holston. 
N. side South Fork Holston. 
Head Waters S. F. Holston. 
north side of Clinch. 
Waters North Fork of Clinch. 
N. Waters of Clinch. 
S. side North Fork of Clinch. 



816 Suuthivest Virginia, 174G-17SO. 

.AlEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 

UNITED STATES REPRESENTING WASHINGTON COUNTY 

FROM 1789-1904. 

1777-1789 — Representatives elected by the General Assembly. 

1789-1793 — Andrew Moore, Rockbridge county, Third District. 

1793-1797 — Francis Preston, Washington county, Fourth District. 

1797-1809 — Abram Trigg, ]\Iontgomery county. Fourth District. 

1809-1817— Daniel Sheffey, Wytbe county, Sixth District. 

1817-1825— Alexander Smyth, Wythe county. 

1825-1827 — Benjamin Estill, Washington county, Twenty-second Dis- 
trict. 

1827-1830— Alexander Smyth, Wythe county. 

1830-1831— Joseph Draper, Wythe county. 

1831-1832 — Cliarles C. Johnston, Washington county. 

1832-1833— Joseph Draper, Wythe county. 

1833-1835— John H. Fulton, Washington county. 

1835-1847 — George W. Hopkins, Washington county, Tliirteenth Dis- 
trict. 

1847-1849— Andrew S. Fulton, Wythe county. 

1849-1857— Fayette McMullen, Smyth county. 

1857-1859 — George W. Hopkins, Washington county. 

1859-1861— Elbert S. Martin, Lee county. 

1861-1863— Walter Preston, Washington county, Confederate States 
Congress. 

1863-1865 — Fayette McMullen, Smyth county. Confederate States 
C'ongress. 

1865-1867 — Daniel Hoge, Montgomery c-ounty, not admitted to se-at. 

1809-1871 — James K. Gibson, Washington county. 

1871-1873— William Terry, Wythe county. 

1873-1875 — Rees T. Bowen, Tazewell county. 

1875-1877— William Terry, Wythe county. 

1877-1879 — A. L. Pridemore, Lee county. 

1879-1881 — J. B. Richmond, Scott county. 

1881-1883 — Abram Fulkerson, Washington county. 

1883-1885— Henry Bowen, Tazewell county. 

1885-1887 — Connally F. Trigg, Washington county. 

1887-1889 — Henry Bowen. Taze\Aiell county. 

1889-1893 — John A. Buchanan, Washington county. 

1893-189.5 — James W. Marshall, Craig county. 

1895-1899— James A. Walker, Wythe county. 

1899-1903— William F. Rhea, Bristol city. 

1903-1905 — Campbell Slemp, Lee county. 



WasMngtun County, 1777-1S70. 817 

MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES IN THE GENERAL AS- 
SEMBLY OF VIRGINIA FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY FROM 
1777-1904. 

1777 — Willuuu Cocke and Anthony Bledsoe. 
1778 — Arthur Campbell and Anthony Bledsoe. 
1779 — David Campbell and Isaac Shelby. 
1780 — William Campbell and Aaron Lewis. 
1781 — William Campbell and William Moore. 
1782 — Arthur Campbell and David Campbell. 
1783 — ^Arthur Campbell and James Montgomery. 
1784 — William Russell and James Montgomery. 
1785^ — Andrew Kincannon and William Russell. 
1786 — Arthur Campbell and Robert Craig. 
1787 — Arthur Campbell and Samuel Edmiston. 
1788 — John Lowry and Samuel Edmiston. 
1789— William Tate and Thomas Edmiston. 
1790 — William Tate and Samuel Edmiston. 
1791 — William Tate and Samuel Edmiston. 
1792— William Tate and J. S. Blair. 
1793 — Samuel Edmiston and William Tate. 
1794 — Samuel Edmiston and William Tate. 
1795 — William Tate and Daniel Perkins. 
1796— William Tate and Daniel Perkins. 
1797 — James Bradley and Samuel Meek. 
1798 — James Bradley and Samuel Meek. 
1799 — James Dysart and Samuel Meek. 
1800 — Samuel INIeek and Robert Craig. 
1801 — Samuel ileek and James Dysart. 
1802 — Samuel Meek and Robert Craig. 
1803 — Samuel Meek and John Fulkerson. 
1804 — Frederick Hamilton and Andrew McHenry. 
1805 — Henry S. Dixon and Thomas Edmiston. 
1806 — Andrew McHenry and Frederick Hamilton. 
1807 — Frederick Hamilton and William Byars. 
1808 — David Craig and William Byars. 
1809 — ^William Byars and David Ci'aig. 
1810 — ^William Byars and David Craig. 
1811 — William Byars and John Campbell. 
1812 — Reuben Bradley and Francis Preston. 
1813 — Reuben Bradley and John Campbell. 
1814 — Reuben Bradley and Francis Preston. 
1815 — Reuben Bradley and Francis Preston. 
1816 — Reuben Bradley and Benj. Estill. 
1817 — John Goodson and L. L. Henderson. 
1818 — John Goodson and L. L. Henderson. 



818 Sout/iircst Virgin id. 174G-17S6. 

1819 — William Poston and William P. Thompson. Unseated 
by contest, Peter Mayo. 

1820 — Nathaniel Dryden and Peter Mayo. 

1821 — Reuben Bradley and Peter Mayo. 

1822— Reuben Bradley and Peter Mayo. 

1823— John H. Fulton and Robert Edmiston. 

1824 — John H. Fulton and Reuben Bradley. 

1825 — James ]\Iiller and Patterson Fletcher. 

1826 — Robert E. Cummings and John Keller. 

1827 — Robert E. Cummings and John Keller. 

1828 — Robert E. Cummings and Henry P. Thompson. 

1829 — Robert E. Cummings and John Keller. 

1830 — Robeit E. Cummings and John Keller. 

1831 — Thomas McCulloch and John Keller. 

1832— Thomas McCulloch and John Keller. 

1833- 1834— Thomas McCulloch. 

1835-1836— John Clark. 

1837— John Gibson. 

1838-1847— Samuel E. Goodson. 

1848-1849— John B. Floyd. 

1850 — George W. Hopkins, Elected Speaker House of Dele- 
gates. 

1851 — George W. Hopkins. 

1852 — William King and I. B. Dunn. Dunn resigned. W. K. 
Heiskell elected to fill vacancy. 

1853 — William King and William K. Heiskell. 

1854—1. B. Dunn and C. S. Bekem. 

1855— W. K. Heiskell and John B. Floyd. 

1857— R. E. Grant and W. L, Rice. 
, 1859 — George W. Hopkins and Jacob Lynch. Lynch resigned. 

A. R. Preston elected to fill vacancy. 

1861— D. C. Dunn and David B. Clark. 

1863 — A. C. Cummings and George Graham. 

1865— C. S. Bekem and Josiah Teeter. 

1869 — George Graham and J. F. Terry. 

1871 — ^A. C. Cummings and A. Fulkerson. 

1873 — Selden Longley and A. Fulkerson. 

1875—1. C. Fowler and C. B. Coale. 

1877— L C. Fowler and Jonas S. Kelly. 

1879— Jonas S. Kelly and D. F. Bailey. 

1881—1. C. Fowler and Jonas S. Kelly. I. C. Fowler elected 
Speaker House of Delegates. 

1883— Jonas S. Kelly and Daniel Trigg. 

1885 — John A. Buchanan and A. Fulkerson. 

1887 — John Roberts and S. P. Edmondson. 

1889 — James Crow and E. S. Kendrick. 

1891 — C. W. Alderson and L. H. Snodgrass. 

1893— E. S. Kendrick and W. H. Tomney. 



Washington Countij, 1777-1S70. 819 

1S95— A. F. Rambo and J. M. Butt. 
1897— C. H. Jennings and T. J. Campbell. 
1899— John W. Price and C. H. McClung. 
1901— John W. JMort and A. J. Huff. 



Senate. 

1777-1787 — William Fleming, Botetourt county. 
1787-1795— William Russell, Russell county. 
1795-1802 — John Preston, Montgomery county. 
1802-1805 — James Preston, Montgomery county. 
1805-1809— Daniel Sheflfey, Wythe county. 
1809-1811— Alexander Smyth, Wythe county. 
1811-1813 — PVancis Smith, Washington county. 
1813-1818— Henry Chapman, Giles county. 
1818-1822 — Francis Preston, Washington county. 
1822-1824— David Campbell, Washington county. 
1824-1829— John D. Sharp, Lee county. 
1829- 183 l^John H. Fulton, Washington county. 
1831-1834 — George Cowan, Russell county. 
1834-1838— John Keller, Washington county. 
1838-1849— Fayette McMullen, Smyth county. 
1849 —Henry S. Kane, Scott county. 

1850-1851— George Cowan. 
1852-1857— Thomas M. Tate, Smyth county. 
1857-1861— B. R. Floyd, Wythe county. 
1861 — Hiram A. Griever, Smyth county. 

1863-1864— William E. Peters, Smyth county. 
1864-1865 — Jos. J. Graham, Wythe county. 
1865-1871 — Jos. W. Davis, Washington county. 
1871-1877 — James S. Griever, Smyth county. 
1877-1881— A. Fulkerson, Bristol, Va.. 
1881-188.5— D. F. Bailey, Bristol, Va. 
1885-1889— W. F. Rhea, Bristol, Va. 
1889-189.3— E. L. Roberts, Bristol, Va. 
1893-1897— B. F. Buchanan, Smyth county. 
1897-1901— C. W. Steele, Washington county. 
1901-190 —J. C. Byars, Bristol, Va. 



820 



Southwest Virginia, 1740-1786. 



VIRGINIA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. 

FiNCASTLE County. 

1776 — -Arthur Canipbi'll and William Russell. 

Washington County. 

1788 — Samuel Edmiston and James Montgomery. 
1829-1830— Edward Campbell and WMUiam Byars. 

— -John B. George, of Tazewell, and Andrew McMillan, of Lee. 
1850-1851 — Benjamin Rush Floyd, George W. Hopkins, 
• — Thomas M. Tate and Connally F. Trigg. 
Hopkins resigned. Elected Speaker of House of Delegates. 
Trigg elected to till vacancy caused by resignation of Hopkins. 
1867-1868— J. H. Thompson, Joseph T. Campbell. 
1901-1902— John C. Summers, Preston W. Campbell. 



JUSTICES OF THE COUNTY COURT. 

Augusta County, 1740-1770. 

Anderson, John, December 1 

Alexander, Archibald, June 11 

Archer, John, June 15 

Buchanan, John, December 1 

Brown, John, December 1 

Bell, James, December 1 

Barton, Richard, June 

Borden, Benjamin, June 11 

V Breckenridge, Robert, June 1 1 

Bowyer, John, JMarch 25 

Buchanan, James, June 15 

Blagg, John, June 15 

Bowyer, William, June 15 

Cunningham, Robert, December 1 

Christian, John, December 1 

Campbell, Robert, December 1 

Craven, Robert, December I 

Christian, William, June 11 

Christian, Israel June 15 

Dickenson, Adam, December 1 

Downs, Henry, June 

Downs, Henry, Jr., May 9 

Denton, John, June 11 

Dickenson, John, March 20, 

English, Thomas June 11 

Fleming, William June 

Gray, Samuel, June 

Gilbert, Felix, June 11 

Hart, Silas, June I 



1740. 
1751. 
1757. 
1740. 
1740. 
1740. 
1746. 
1751. 
1751. 
1755. 
1757. 
1757. 
1757. 
1740. 
1740. 
1740. 
1740. 
1751. 
1757. 
1740. 
1746. 
1749. 
1751. 
1755. 
1751. 
1765. 
1746. 
1757. 
1746. 



Washington County, 1777-1810. 



831 



Hook, Kobeit, May 

Harrison, William, May 9 

Harberson, William, June 11 

Jamison, William,^ May 9 

Keer, James, December 1 

Kennedy, Joseph, June 11 

Lewis, John, December 1, 

"Lewis, Thomas, December 1, 

Lewis, Andrew, June 11 

Lynn, John, June 11 

Txjckhart, James, June 11 

Lyie, John, June 1 1 

Montgomery, James, June 1 

Martin, Patrick, June 11 

Mills, John, June 11 

McClanahan, Robert, June 11 

Matthews, John, June 11 

Martin, Robert, June 1 1 

McClanahan, Alexander, June 11 

Matthews, Sampson, June 11 

McDowell, Samuel, June 11 

Neely, James, jNIarch 20 

O'Dell, Samuel, May 9 

Patton, James, December 1 

Poa^ Robert, December 1 

Pickens, John, December 1 

Pickens, Andrew, December 1 

Patterson, Erwin, June 11 

Preston, William, March 20 



1745. 
1745. 
1751. 
1745. 
1740. 
1751. 
1740. 
1740. 
1751. 
1751. 
1751. 
1751. 
174G. 
1751. 
1751. 
1751. 
1751. 
1757. 
1757. 
1757. 
1757. 
1755. 
1749. 
1748. 
1748. 
1748. 
1748. 
1751. 
1755. 



1740 — George Robinson. 
1751 — James Rutledge. 
1757 — Daniel Smith. 
1751 — Mathias Scltger. 
1751— David Stewart. 
1740^Tohn Tinier. 
1740 — William Thompson. 
1741 — Abraham Vanderpool. 
1 74G — John Wil^son. 



1751 — Robert Ramsey. 
1751 — John Riddle. 
1755 — Alexander Sayers. 
1740— Peter Scholl. 
1751 — Thoma.s Stewart. 
1740 — Hugh Thompson. 
1741 — Ephraim Vass. 
1740— Richard Woods. 
1751 — Alexander Wright. 



BOTETOURT COUNTY— 1770-1774. 

The first court met at the house of Robert Breckenridge in said county 
on Tuesday, the 13th day of February, 1770. William Preston and James 
Trimble administered the oath. 

Arbuckle, Matthew, June 11, 1771. 

Breckenridge, Robert, .February 1.3, 1770. 

Bowycr, John, February 13, 1770. 



823 Southwest Virginia, 174G-17S0. 

Bowman, John, February 14, 1770. 

Bledsoe, Anthony, February 14, 1770. 

Christian, Israel, February 13, 1770. 

Christian, William, February 14, 1770. 

Crockett, Walter, February 14, 1770. 

Doage, Kobert, February 14, 1770. 

Estill, Benjamin, February 13, 1770. 

Fleming, William, Febrviary 13, 1770. 

Hawkins, Benj., February 13, 1770. 

Howard, John, February 14, 1770. 

Herbert, William, February 14, 1770. 

Inglis, William, February 14, 1770. 

Love, Philip, February 14, 1770. 

Lewis, Andrew, February 14, 1770. 

Montgomery, John February 14, 1770. 

Maxwell, John, February 13, 1770. 

McGavock, James, February 14, 1770. 

Matthews, William, February 14, 1770. 

McKee, William, February 14, 1770. 

Preston, William, February 13, 1770. 

Pobinson, David, .Februaiy 13, 1770. 

Robertson, James, February 14, 1770.^ 

Robinson, John, June 11, 1771. 

Skillem, George, February 13, 1770. 

Smith, Francis, February 14, 1770. 

Stewart, John, June 11, 1771. 

Trigg, Stephen, February 14, 1770. 

Trimble, James, Februaiy 13, 1770. 

Thompson, James-on-Holston, June 11, 1771. 

Woods, Richard, February 13, 1770. 

W^oods, Andrew, February 14, 1770. 

Van Bebber, John, ' June 11, 1771. 

FINCASTLE COUNTY— 1773-1777. 

Court assembled at the Lead Mines on January 5, 1773. Oath admin- 
istered by Arthur Campbell and James Thompson. 

Bledsoe, Anthony, January 5, 1773. 

Campbell, Arthur, January 5, 1773. 

Christian, William, January 5, 1773. 

Ciockett, Walter, January 5, 1773. 

Crockett, Samuel, January 5, 1773. 

Campbell, William, January 6, 1773. 

Doach, Robert, January 5, 1773. 

Estill, Benj., January 5, 1773. 

Herbert, William, January 6, 1773. 

Inglis, William, January 5. 1773. 

Montgomery, John, January 5, 1773. 



Wasliington Cotintij, 1777-1S70. 823 

McGavock, James, January 5, 1773. 

McKee, Alexander, January 5, 1773. 

McCorkle, James, January 6, 1773. 

Preston, William, January 5, 1773. 

Russell, William, January 5, 1773. 

Thompson, James, January 8, 1773. 

Trigg, Stephen, January 8, 1773. 

JUSTICES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY— 1777-1870. 

Anderson, John, January 28, 1777. 

Adair, John, , November 25, 1777. 

Buchanan, Alexander, January 28, 1777. 

Blackburn, George, January 28, 1777. 

Barnett, Alexander, July 18, 1780. 

Black, Joseph, July 18, 1780. 

Blackmore, John, November 29, 1782. 

Bradley, James, January 17, 1791. 

Buchanan, Wm. (died March 29, 1 840.),. .October 16, 1813. 

Barb, Jacob, June 19, 1821. 

Bronough, Jeremiah, May 27, 1839. 

Baitzell, David, July 25, 1842. 

Bradley, Reuben (died June 6, 1844,), March 18, 1806. 

Bradley, Abram (died October, 1846,), January 1, 1814. 

Bowen, Arthur M., May 27, 1824. 

Byai-s, William B., September 23, 1844. 

Bradley, John L., September 23, 1844. 

Bradley, Abram F., September 23, 1850. 

Bradley, D. September 23, 1850. 

Berry, Nathaniel, September 23, 1852. 

Buchanan, Solon, August 23, 1852. 

Beattie, Absalom, August 23, 1852. 

Bailey, James A., May 24, 186 -. 

Butt, William A., April 10, 1869. 

Buchanan, Matthew, July 15, 1811. 

Berry, John, October 24, 1793. 

Baker, Jacob, December 20, 1805. 

Byars, John April 30, 1808. 

Byars, William, March 30, 1810. 

Branch, Peter J., May 30, 1826. 

Bonham, Joseph, September 8, 1829. 

Campbell, Arthur, January 28, 177. 

Campbell, William, January 28, 1777. 

Campbell, John, January 28, 1777. 

Coulter, John, January 28, 1777. 

Christian, Gilbert, November 25, 1777. 

Craig, Robert, November 25, 1777. 

Caldwell, Thomas, November 25, 1777. 



824 Southwest Tirginia, 1740-17SG. 

Campbell, Robert, July 18, 1780. 

Cowan, William, November 29, 1782. 

Cowan, Andrew, November 29, 1782. 

Campbell, Arthur Jr., .September 9, 1820. 

Conn, William Y., September 9, 1793. 

Cummings, John C., May 27, 1839. 

Clark, David, May 27, 1839. 

Campbell, David, July 25, 1842. 

Cummingis, Robert E., August 10, 1811. 

Cummings, James (died Aug. 1, 1840) ,. .October 19, 1803. 

Carson, David, September 15, 1812. 

Christian, Samuel, May 27, 1837. 

Craig, Robert C, September 23, 1844. 

Catron, Francis K., September 23, 1844. 

Carmack, Cornelius, September 23, 1850. 

Caldwell, John S., August 23, 1852. 

Campbell, James L., August 23, 1852. 

Campbell, John C, August 23, 1854. 

Cole, James L., August 23, 1854. 

Crockett, J. M., . August 23, 1854. 

Crow, James, August 23, 1854. 

Cummings, Robert E., May 24, 186--. 

Campbell, J. L. F., May 24, 186--, 

Clark, D. B., May 26, 1864. 

Campbell, Chas. C, June 25, 1867. 

Counts, L. h., April 10, 1869. 

Craig, James, September 27, 1796. 

Campbell, David, Jr., July 15, 1811. 

Dysart, James, January 28, 1777. 

DunKin, John, November 25, 1777. 

Davis, Jas. (son of Jno., died Mar. 16, 1844,) . June 19, 1821, 

Davis, James L., May 25, 1840. 

Duft', Samuel C, May 25, 1840. 

Davis, Robert, .August 20, 1811. 

Duff, John, December 20, 1814. 

Dryden, Nathaniel, December 20, 1814. 

Davis, William, May 27, 1837. 

Dunn, 1. B., September 23, 1850. 

Davenport, I'homas, August 23, 1852. 

Duff, Wm. K., August 23, 1854. 

Davis, Joseph W., August 23, 1856. 

Denton, David C, May 26, 1864. 

Dutton, Peter, August 28, 1865. 

Deck, Joseph, August 28, 1865. 

Davenport, Henry ( presiding justice ) , ....April 10, 1869. 

DeBusk, Wm., May 14. 1860. 

Dixon, George, July 15, 1811. 

Davis, John, December 25, 1798. 



Washington Couniy. 1777-1870. 



Edniiston, Win., January 28 

Estill, Benj., July 18 

Edmiston, Samuel, 



Edmiston, Andrew, May 25 

Eakin, John (presiding justice) , May 25 

Edmiston, Robert, March 18 

Ellington, Francis, May 27 

Edmiston, W. C, August 23 

Ellington, J. D., May 27 

Edwards, Arthur, September 25 

Eastridge, William, . August 28 

Edmondson, W. C, March 30 

Edmiston, John, December 20 

Eulkerson, James, July 18 

Euiton, Samuel, December 25 

f'ulkerson, Thomas, . ., September 19 

Eleenor, Michael C, June 19 

Fulkerson, Abram, January 21 

Fullen, Francis, May 27 

Fudge, Conrad, '. August 23 

Fleenor, Drury, August 23 

Fleenor, Allen, December 25 

Fields, James, May 24 

Fleenor, John, December 20 

Gillenwaters, Elijah, December 17 

Ganaway, Robinson, September 21 

Gibson, Andrew (died Nov. 21, 1839), June 19 

Gibson, John, March 30 

Goodson, John, May 2 

Graham, William, September 15 

Goo<lson, Samuel E., September 15 

Gillenwaters, John W., September 23 

Gobble, W m. M., September 23 

Greenway, James C, May 24 

Gillenwaters, G. L., May 24 

Gollihorn, James A., May 26 

Hensely, Samuel, December 27 

Houston, John, December 27 

Henderson, Lilburn L., January 19 

Hanby, Peter S., May 27 

Humes, John N., May 30 

Horn, John, May 30 

Home, Isaac, September 23 

Hagy, Martin, September 23 

Hamilton, John M., September 23 

Hendricks, T. P., May 24 

liite, Nicholas, May 26 

HoustuK, Samuel, May 20 



1777. 

1780. 

17—. 

1839. 

1839. 

1806. 

1837. 

1852. 

186--. 

1865. 

1865. 

1810. 

1805. 

1780. 

1798. 

1820. 

1821. 

1812. 

1837. 

1852. 

1852. 

1854. 

186". 

1805. 

179.i. 

1820. 

1821. 

1810. 

1806. 

1827. 

1827. 

1844. 

1850. 

186-. 

186-. 

1864. 

1798. 

1798. 

1819. 

1837. 

1826. 

1826. 

1844. 

1850.. 

1850. 

186-.. 

1864.. 

1864. 



826 Southwest Virginia, 174G-17S6. 

Home, Joel, May 26, 1868. 

Hurt, F. B., May 26, 1860. 

Home, John E., May 24, 1860. 

Harper, James, April 30, 1808. 

Hamilton, Frederick, August 20, 1803. 

Hayter, Abraham, Jr., December 25, 1798, 

Hawkins, John October 24, 1793. 

Houston, Eobert, September 8, 1829. 

Ingle, Willis, May 24, 1860. 

Jamison, Edward H., September 19, 1820. 

Jett, spencer, June 21, 1808. 

Johnson, Walter, May 24, 1860. 

Jones, John, May 24, 1860. 

Jamison, John, March 18, 1784. 

Johnston, Peter C, May 27, 1824. 

Kinkead, John (died Octo. 22, 1841), . .January 28, 1777. 

Keys, James, January 17, 1797. 

King, James, June 19, 1821. 

King, Jonathan, September 8, 1829. 

Keys, James, July 15, 1842. 

Kincannon, James, October 20, 1810. 

King, Sidney, August 23, 1852. 

Key, George B., August 23, 1852. 

Keys, Robert, August 23, 1856. 

Kelly, James, May 26, 1864. 

King, James A., May 26, 1864. 

Kent, Jacob B., April 10, 1869. 

Keller, John, Alay 3, 1826. 

Lewis, Aaron, July 18, 1780. 

Latham, John, July 18, 1780. 

Lowry, John, May 29, 1782. 

Logan, Wm. S. (died July 26, 1843), June 21, 1808. 

Latham, Edward, September 18, 1820. 

Love, Leonidas, May 27, 1839. 

Lynch, Daniel (died March 16, 1845), May 22, 1824. 

Lyon, Humberson, September 23, 1844. 

Lenahan, John, August 23, 1856. 

Linder, J. D., May 24, 186--. 

Lowry, John M., May 26, 1864. 

Love, J. W., May 26, 1864. 

Linder, Abram, May 26, 1860. 

Lowry, Robert S., May 21, 1827. 

Martin, Joseph, January 28, 1777. 

Montgomery, James, January 28, 1777. 

Mastin, Thomas, January 28, 1777. 

Montgomery, Thomas, July 18, 1780. 

Montgomery, Alexander, July IS, 1780. 

McCarty, Enoch, . August 24, 1793, 



Washington Couuitj. 1777-1S70. 

McChesney, Thomas, June 

McCulloch, Thomas, Soptembei- 

Meek, James, December 

Meek, William, January 

Mitchel, John, August 

Mitehel, John D., May 

Moffett, John, June 

Maxwell, John N., May 

Meek, James, May 

McChesney, Hugh A. (died Dec, 1845), . . . .May 

Mallicote, A. R., July 

Minnick, Peter, October 

McCulloch, John, February 

Meek, James (died Oct., 18G5), February 

McCulloch, Robert, April 

Moore, Samuel, April 

McNew, James, May 

Merchant, Jacob, May 

MeConnell, James S., May 

Miller, Joseph (died Dec, 1845), March 

McGhee, William, March 

Mongle, Abram, September 

Maxwell, Wallace, September 

McHenry, David, September 

Milner, W. P., August 

McGinnis, Noble I., August 

Mann, Heniy A., May 

Maiden, J. M., May 

McNew, Elisha, •. August 

Moore, W. F., May 

Maxwell, Thomas, .March 

McClellan, John, December 

Newell, Samuel, November 

Nordyke, Abraham, September 

Nuchols, Richard, ,May 

Orr, A. S., May 

Outlaw, Alexander, November 

Orr, James, May 

Ogden, Elias, May 

Preston, Robert, November 

Preston, Wm. C, June 

Preston, Robert, Jr., January 

Preston, T. L., July 

Preston, John, Jr., January 

Poston, Hatch D., December 

Preston, Francis, November 

Preston, John M., • May 

Preston, W. A., May 



827 



15, 


1802. 


19, 


1820. 


25, 


1805. 


19, 


1821. 


20, 


1803. 


27, 


18.39. 


19, 


1821. 


27, 


1839. 


25, 


1840. 


25, 


1840. 


25, 


1842. 


19, 


1816. 


18, 


1806. 


18, 


1806. 


30, 


1808. 


21, 


1818. 


22, 


1837. 


22, 


1837. 


22 


1837. 


20, 


1810. 


20, 


1810. 


23, 


1844. 


23, 


1850. 


23, 


1850. 


23, 


1852. 


23, 


1852. 


27, 


1858. 


26, 


1864. 


28, 


1865. 


24, 


1860. 


20, 


1810. 


25, 


1805. 


29, 


1782. 


19, 


1820. 


24, 


1860. 


24, 


1860. 


24, 


1782. 


27, 


1839. 


27, 


1837. 


17, 


1783. 


19, 


1821. 


17, 


1804. 


25. 


1842. 


17, 


1804. 


25, 


1814. 


22, 


1798. 


27, 


1837. 


27, 


1837. 



828 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1780. 

Paxton, James W., May 27, 1837. 

Patterson, Andrew, May 27, 1837. 

Price, John W., tSeptember 25, 1844. 

Preston, John F., September 25, 1844. 

Patterson, Thomas E., August 23, 1852. 

Patterson, Sampson, August 23, 1856. 

Price, Daniel E., August 23, 185G. 

Phelps, James, 51ay 24, 1865. 

Patterson, S. C, May 26, 1864. 

Porterfield, J. C, May 26, 1864. 

Pippin, Elisha, April 10, 1869. 

Preston, James T., May 24, 1860. 

Ritchie, Samuel, JS'ovember 29, 1782. 

Roddy, Frederick Y., June 19, 1821. 

Robertson, Wyndham, July 25, 1842. 

Rosenbalm, Valentine, May 22, 1837. 

Rhea, W. R., September 23, 1850. 

Reid, Benjamin, August 23, 1852. 

Roberts, Henry, August 23, 1852. 

Rice, W. L., August 23, 1856. 

Rosenbalm, David, May 26, 1864. 

Rose, John D., April 15, 1869. 

Rosenbalm, L. F., April 15, 1869. 

Roberts, John, May 24, 1860. 

Russell, William, October 24, 1793. 

Shelby, Evan, January 28, 17V7. 

Smith, Daniel, January 28, 17V7. 

Snoddy, John, Januarj- 28, 1777. 

Shelby, Isaac, ' November 25, 1777. 

Smith, Henry, November 29, 1782. 

Smyth, Tobias, September 19, 1820. 

Stewart, Robert, September 19, 1820. 

Smith, Francis (died July 26, 1844), . .December 25, 1814. 

Smith, Lewis, June 21, 1810. 

Smith, Parker, May 22, 1837. 

Shankland, R. M., September 23, 1844. 

Snodgrass, J. M., August 23, 1862. 

Stratton, James P., August 23, 1856. 

Sutton, John F., May 24, 1860. 

Snodgrass, James, . .May 26, 1864. 

Sharp, James L., May 24, 1860. 

Scott, Wm., May 22, 1783. 

Scott, Archibald, May 22, 1783. 

Sevier, Jacob, December 20, 1805. 

Smith, Jonathan, .April 30, 1808. 

Tate, William, .March 18, 1784. 

Taylor, James, October 18, 1803. 

Thompson, Henry B., May 15, 1821. 



Washington Count i/, 1777-1S70. 829 

TiLson, Thomas, March 17, 1812. 

Teeter, Jacob, June 19, 1821. 

Thomas, Thomas, February 19, 1806. 

Tate, Charles, February 19, 1806. 

Thompson, W. P., June 22, 1808. '^' 

Taylor, James, June 22, 1808, 

Trigg, Daniel, May 22, 1837. 

Trigg, William K., May 22, 1837. 

Trigg, Abram F., . . . - September 23, 1844. 

Teeter, Jo$iah, May 24, 1860. 

Tat€, M. B., May 24, 1864. 

Tate, M., March 24, 1810. 

Trigg, Jos. C, March 27, 1824. 

Ward, David, July 18, 1780. 

Wafson, David, July 18, 1780. 

Willoughby, Matthew, September 27, 1796. 

White, James (died Oct. 20, 1839), February 19, 1799. 

Wills, Samuel H., May 27, 1839. 

White, Wm. Y. C, May 27, 1837. 

Weathers, Michael W., September 23, 1844. 

Worley, John W., September 23, 1850. 

Ward, Ota H., July 23, 1852. 

Widener, Reuben, August 23, 1852. 

White, H. C, August 25, 1865. 

Widener, Elias, April 10, 1869. 

Widener, James J., April 10, 1869. 

Watson, Patrick, May 22, 1783. 

SHERIFFS AUGUSTA COUNTY, 1745-1770. 

Patton, James, December 9, 1745. 

Downs, Henry, June 17, 1746. 

Lewis, John, July 16, 1748. 

McClanahan, Robert, . . : August 27, 1749. 

Stewart, David, JSovember 21, 1751. 

> Breckenridge, Robert, , . 

Lewis, Andrew, November 18, 1756. 

Botetourt County, 1770-1773. 

Woods, Richard, February 13, 1770. 

Christian, Israel, November 12, 1771. 

SHERIFFS AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS. 

FiNCASTLE County, 1773-1777. 

Preston, William, January 5, 1 773. 



830 Southwest Virginia^ 1740-1780. 

Washixgton County. 

J)ysart, James, January 28, 1777. 

Campbell, Arthur, February IG, 1779. 

Ediuiston, Wm., August 20, 1782. 

Dysart, James, March 16, 1784. 

Kinkead, John, August 17, 1784. 

INIontgomery, James, January 18, 1785. 

Craig, Robert, February 13, 1787. 

Fulkerson, James, January 11, 1789. 

Montgomery, Alexander, January 11, 1791. 

Campbell, Piobert, January 15, 1793. 

Preston, Robert, January 20, 1795. 

Campbell, Arthur January 17, 1797. 

Edmiston, Samuel, January 15, 1799. 

Tate, William, February 17, 1801. 

McCarty, Enoch, March 15, 1803. 

Conn, William Y., February 20, 1805. 

Gillenwaters, Elijah, January 20, 180/. 

Bradley, James, June 20, 1809. 

Willoughby, Matthew, June 18, 1811, 

Keys, James, July 20, 1813. 

Fulton, Samuel, June 20, 1815. 

Hensely, Samuel, March 19, 1817. 

White, James, March 16, 1819. 

Houiston, John, March 24, 1821. 

McChesney, Thomas, March 18, 1723. 

Taylor, James, March 15, 1825. 

Cummings, James, March 20, 182/. 

VPreston, John, Jr., March 17, 1829. 

Thomas, Thomas, April 19, 1831. 

Meek, James, March 25, 1833. 

Bradley, Reuben, December 23, 1833. 

McCuiloch, John, '. May — , 1836. 

Logan, Wm. S., May 12, 1838. 

Smith, Lewis, May 15, 1840. 

iiradky, Abram, May 21, 1842. 

Buchanan, William, .May 13, 1844. 

Duff, John, May 22, 1846. 

Minnick, Peter, May 16, 1848. 

Moore, Samuel, . May 13, 1850. 

Latham, Edward, March 22, 1852. 

Buchanan, Matthew H., July 1, 1852. 

Skinner, Samuel, July 1, 1857. 

Heiskell, Wm. King, ' July 1, 1860. 

Hamilton, John 31., July 1, 1862. 

Heiskell, Wm. King, July 1, 1864. 

Fields, James, July 3, 1865. 



]Va.^Jii)igton Conulij. 1777- J S70. 

Campbell, James L. F., January 11, 1866. 

Henritze, James, May 26, 1866. 

Dunn, William A., March 15, 1869. 

Fields, Jameis, April 25, 1870. 

Cosby, John D., October 8, 1870. 

Jones, 1. F., July 1, 1879. 

Hughes, Robert E., July 1, 1883. 

Hortenstine, Joel W., July 1, 1896. 



DEPUTY SHERIFFS BOTETOURT COUNTY, 1770-1773 

McDowell, James, February 13, 1770 

McGavock, James, February 13 



Mastin, Thomas, February 13 

McClanahan, William, JSovember 12 

Smith, Francis, February 13 

Trigg, Daniel, November 12 

Woods, Arthur, April 15 



1770. 
1770. 
1771. 
1770. 
1777. 
1770. 



FixcAsTLE County, 1770-1770. 

Trigg, Daniel, January 5, 1773. 

Floyd, John, January 5, 1773. 

Moore, Heniy, January 5, 1773. 

Tliompson, James, January 5, 1773. 

Sayers, William, September 3, 1776. 



Washingtox CorxTY. 

Acklin, Christopher, April 22 

Ashley, D. L., July 1 

Browning, Jesse, , — 

Bruce, N. B., February 26 

Black, Joseph, April 29 

Buchanan, M. H., March 26 

Buchanan, James S., Juiy — ; 

Buchanan, B. K., March 24 

Buchanan, W. R., March 23 

Baltzell, David, March 31 

Barker, W. W. (jailer) , May 26 

Bradley, A. F., March 27 

Baugh, B. F., July 1. 

Craig, Robert, , — , 

Craig, John, — - — — , — . 

Craig, Wra., , — . 

Carter, Charles, , — . 

Colvill, A., , — , 

Craig, Hiram, , — , 

Carson, William, , — , 



1779. 
1899. 
1795. 
1877. 
1777. 
1851. 
1852. 
1845. 
1846. 
1838. 
1864. 
1843. 
1871. 
1786. 
1786. 
1786. 
1786. 
1788. 
1791. 
1792. 



833 Southwest Virginia, 171^6-1180. 

Craig, David, , — , 1797. 

Clark, Benj., , — , 1803. 

Carmaok, D. C, April 24, 1870. 

Craig, James, August 23, 1782. 

Clark, Benj. C, .May 22, 1862. 

Campbell, D. A. P May 22, 1862. 

Clark, Job, September 28, 1831. 

Crawford, John, August 18, 1820. 

Campbell, Francis S., June 3, 1838. 

Clark, Jacob (jailer), May 22, 1839. 

Clark, Benj. L., July 1, 1891. 

Clark, J. W. C, July 1, 1891. 

Carmack, Goodson, I'ebruary 22. 1867. 

Colley, T. W., l-'ebruary 28, 1871. 

Clark, John J. (jailer) December 6, 1887. 

Clark, P. D., July — , 1896. 

Clark, W. H., '-, — , 1897. 

Countiss, C. C, December 6, 1887. 

Calahan, Walter A., August 9, 1870. 

Donaldson, Alexander, June 20, 1780. 

DeBusk, Wm., December 27, 1858. 

Davidson, Andrew (jailer), May 31, 1857. 

Davis, Matthew, August 9, 1870. 

Dunn, D. C, August 9, 1870. 

Dunn, John L., August 9, 1870. 

Erwin, Robert May 18, 1781. 

Edmondson, Wm., May 26, 1851. 

Ewing, Ui-bine, , — , 1786. 

Edmiston, J., , — , 1779. 

Edmiston, T., , — , 1799. 

Edmiston, James, , — , 1797. 

Fulcher, James (jailer), October 26, 1843. 

Fleenor, Milton, July 1, . 

Fields, Thos. J., July 27, 1870. 

Fulkerson, Pat , — , 1786. 

Gobble. Thos. M., December 27, 1858. 

Gibbons, H. C, D.'cember 27, 1858. 

Gibson, John, September 28. 1831. 

Gibson, Chas. C September 28, 1831. 

Galliher, Campbell December 27, 1849. 

Gray, Janfes, December 16, 1821. 

Gibson, D. H., December 7, 1840. 

Graham, W. T., November 26, 1890. 

Hoover, Samuel D., ..September 28, 1831. 

Houston, Samuel (jailer), September 27, 1854. 

Henritze, James (jailer), : April 25, 1870. 

Heiskell, Wm. K March 24, 1845. 

Haller, Richard J.. March 23, 1846. 



Washington County, 1777-1810. 

Hortenstine, John Avigust 

Hortenstine, Bernard T., , 

Hortenstine, James W., , 

Hughes, R. R., July 

Hughes, C. W., July 

Henritze, VVm., April 

Henritze, R. H., January 

Huston, Wni., , 

Irvine, Robert, , 

Johnston, Walter, May 

Jones, I. F. (jailer), July 

Jones, R., , 

Kelly, James E., July 

King, John, March 

Keys, Robert, May 

Keller, S. G., October 

Kidd, John J., May 

Kidd, John E., April 

Keller, J. B., March 

Longley, James (jailer) , , 

Lee, Wm., October 

Leedy, James (jailer) , May 

Lynch, Jacob (jailer) , May 

Litchfield, Abram T., July 

Lovvry, R. S., July 

Legard, S. P., July 

Linder, J. D., February 

Love, Wm., , 

Lowry, W. G. G., December 

Maiden, Noah L., May 

Mongle, Abram, May 

Mitchell, John H., March 

Morrison, Joe L., July 

Miller, G. G. (jailer) , March 

Marshall, A., , 

Maxwell, David, , 

Newell, Samuel, May 

Newton, W. L (jailer ) , July 

Overbay, Thos. W., April 

Orr, James, , 

Pippin, W. B., January 

Price, Emory O., March 

Price, Richard, , 

Poston, W m., , 

Ryburn, W. S., Tanuary 

Roberts, James, August 

Roberts, John, May 

Rowan, Henry, , 



833 



12, 1895. 







1 


, 1879. 


1 


, 1879. 


28 


1870. 


23 


1866. 


— 


, 1795. 


— 


1788. 


13 


, 1855. 


1 


, 1875. 


— 


, 1789. 


— 


1852. 


19 


, 1778. 


24 


, 1860. 


4 


, 1873. 


26 


1874. 


26 


1875. 


31 


1883. 


— 


1797. 


18 


1871. 


22 


1846. 


13 


1850. 


— 


1854. 


21 


1870. 


21 


1883. 


27 


1867. 


— 


1792. 


24 


1866. 


26 


1864. 


12 


1838. 


16 


1819. 


1 


1891. 


31 


1883. 


— 


1791. 


— 


1792. 


19, 


1778. 


2 


189.-). 


18, 


1820. 


'—, 


1805. 


11, 


1866. 


2V, 


1866. 


— , 


1792. 


— , 


1792. 


11, 


1816. 


26, 


1777. 


26, 


1864. 


— , 


1780. 



834 Southivest Virginia, 174G-17S6. 

Rliea, Matthew, , — , 1790. 

JSnotlgrass, James, March 16, 1783. 

Skinner, Samuel (jailer), December 27, 1858. 

Skinner, Wm. W., January 1, 1857. 

Smyth, Harold, March 16, 1819. 

Snodgrass, Samuel M., May 22, 1839. 

Sharp, Benj., , — , 1786. 

Saunders, Stephen, , — , 1788. 

Smyth, Alexander, , — , 1791. 

Toncray, Lewis (jailer), March 16, 1819. 

Tate, John, January 16, 1821. 

Tate, Charles, , — , 1791. 

Toncray, James, June 17, 1819. 

Thompson, B. W., July 1, 1891. 

Trigg, Lilburn, July 1, 1883. 

Thompson, R. H., January 25, 1871. 

Taylor, Wm., , — , 1788. 

Willoughby, Matthew, June 19, 1781. 

Webb, Chas., September 27, 1857. 

Worley, Chas., July 1, 1887. 

Walkup, A., , — , 1791. 

Yancy, John, June 19, 1781. 



Attorneys and Date of Qualification. 



Augusta County, 1744-1770. 

Chew, Thomas 1774. Quin, John, 1746. 

Henry, Patrick, 1766. Nicholas, John (decP K. C.),. .1745. 

Harvie, John, 1747. Newport, John, 1745. 

Hogg, Peter, 1766. Russell, William, 1740. 

Jones, Gabriel (K. C), 1746. Sherman, John, 1748. 

/ Madison, Thomas, 1766. Pendleton, Benj., 1745. 

Marr, Gideon, 1746. Porter, James, 1740. 

Meriot, Obadiah, 1746. Wythe, George, 1747. 

Wright, William, 1745. 

Botetourt County, 1770-1773. 

Aylett, John, 1770. Jones, John Gabriel, 1773. 

Bowyer, Luke ( K. C.) , 1770. Madison, Thomas, . . 1770. 

Dunlop, Ephraim 1770. Todd, John, 1771. 

Jones, Harry, 1773. Winston, Edmund, 1770. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 



835 



FiNCASTLE County, 1773-1776. 

Aylett, John (dep. atty.), . . . .1774. 

Breckenridge, John, 1775. 

Bowyer, Luke, 1773. 

Dunlop, Ephraim, 1773. 

Innes, Harry, 1773. 



Jones, Gabriel, 1773. 

Lawson, Benj., 1773. 

May, John, 1773. 

Madison, Thomas (Dep. K. C), 1774. 
Sims, Charles, 1773. 



Todd, John, 1774. 



Washington County, 1777-1900. 



Anderson, Wm. Preston, 
Arnold, James, . . . 
Aston, Wm. B., . 
Ayers, Rufiis A., . 
Ayers, W. A., . . . 
Brown, John, .... 
Bradley. Robert E. 
Boyd, Thomas J., 
Bekem, Chas. S., . 
Buckingham, P. S., 

Black, J. M., 

Baxter, Sidney S., 
Barker, Albert, . . 
Blackley, M. L., . . 
Brockenbrough, John W 
Bailey, D. F., . . 
Burson, John E., 
Buchanan, John A. 
Brown, John M., . 
Blanchard, A. H., 
Bowyer, Luke, . . . 
Baskerville, Chas., 

Barr, F. T., 

Beavers, Alex., 
Barr, Paul E., ... 
Buchanan, R. E., . 

Byars, J. C, 

Campbell, David, . 
Campbell, Edward, 
Cummings, Chas. J., 
Clapp, Jeremiah W., 
Campbell, John A., 
Cummings, A. C, 
Cooke, Wm. H., . 
Campbell, Jos. T., 
Crank, W. S., ... 
Clarkson, Wm. N., 
Cole, A. P., 



. 1798. Caldwell, Jos. W., 1871. 

. 1830. Campbell, Daniel T., 1883. 

. 1865. Campbell, Edward K., 1883. 

. 1874. Campbell, J. G., 1885. 

. 1874. Cosby, L. T., 1888. 

.1783. Campbell, Preston W., 1896. 

. 1832. Dixon, Henry St. John, 1819. 

• 1837. Dixon, Henry, 1820. 

. 1837. Draper, Joseph, 1833. 

. 1849. Davis, Archimedas, 1853. 

. 1859. Davis, A. M., 1855. 

. 1865. Day, Lexington M., 1865. 

. 1861. Dickenson, A. M., 1872. 

. 1866. Dinwiddle, S. S., 1883. 

. 1866. Davenport, P. J., 1888. 

. 1869. Dishner, J. H., 1892. 

. 1872. Estill, Benj., . 

. 1872. Evans, Walter, 1848. 

. 1874. Earnest, John Henry, 1851. 

. 1875. Edmondson, Reese B., 1861. 

. 1777. Egbert, George T., 1872. 

. 1877. Early, Jubal A., 1876. 

. 1877. English, Arthur, 1885. 

. 1881. Fulton, John H., 1821. 

. 1882. Fulton, Andrew S., 1832. 

. 1883. Floyd, John B., 1834. 

. 1896. Floyd, Wm. P., 1834. 

. 1780. Floyd, Benj. Rush, 1843. 

. 1818. Fulkerson, S. V., 1846. 

. 1837. Fulkerson, Abram, 1866. 

. 1838. Findlay, Frank S., 1866. 

. 1846. Flournoy, H. W., 1881. 

. 1846. Fulkerson, S. V., Jr., 1887. 

. 1848. Gregory, Francis R., 1832. 

. 1849. Gibbons, H. C, 1848. 

. 1864. Gilmore, James H., 1851. 

. 1865. Griffith, J. F., 1889. 

. 1867. Green, C. R., 1889. 



836 



Southwest Virginia, nJ^d-nSG. 



Harrison, Chas. E., 1827. 

Hall, John, 1832. 

Humes, Jas. W., 1855. 

Hughes, R. W., 1859. 

Hounshell, David S., 1861. 

HopkiriiS, Henry L., 1867. 

Holdway, H. W., 1867. 

Humes, Francis A., 1870. 

Hopkins, Geo. W., 1834. 

Hawthorn, Hugh C, 1874. 

Honaker, M. H., 1879. 

Hutton, F. B., 1880. 

Hamilton, W. S., 1883. 

Humes, C. F., 1884. 

Hamilton, H. H., 1886. 

Hudgens, W. P., 1887. 

Hamilton, Thomas S., 1889. 

Hoge, Lacy, 1889. 

Hurt, J. I., 1889. 

Innes, Harry, 1779. 

Johnston, Peter C, . 1831. 

Johnston, Charles C, 1831. 

Jones, Geo. W., 1836. 

Johnston, Beverly R., 1839. 

Johnston, John W., 1839. 

Jones, H. C, 1872. 

Jones, James Alfred, 1873. 

Jones, S. D., 1870. 

Jenkins, Geo. G., 1886. 

Johnston, Walter A., 1896. 

Kane, Henry S., 1832. 

Kent, Robert L., 1853. 

King, Wm. Rutledge, 1894. 

Leftwich, Isaac J., 1833. 

Logan, Samuel, 1837. 

Lampkin, John W., 1838. 

Latham, Robert, 1841 . 

Little, David Z., 1848. 

Logan, T. M., 1855. 

Logan, Samuel T., 1855. 

Logan, John B. J., 1861. 

Langhorne, Wm. W., 1867. 

Longley, Seldon, 1870. 

Lindsay, S. F., 1890. 

Madison, Rowland, 1779. 

Mayo, Peter, 1831. 

McComas, David, 1832. 

Mayo, W. H., ...1835. 



Miller, David, 1856. 

Mosby, John S., 1858. 

/ McCormick, Samuel, 1855. 

Miller, Samuel A., 1863. 

McGinnis, Ira J., 1866. 

McDougall, Chas., 1869. 

Massie, N. H., 1870. 

McCrosky, W. D., 1877. 

Miller, D. C, 1878. 

Miles, A. F., 1882. 

Naff, Geo. E., 1850. 

Neal, John W., 1897. 

Preston, John, 1833. 

Preston, Walter, 1843. 

Preston, Wm. B., 1846. 

Preston, James T., 1847. 

Pendleton, Stephen J., 1856. 

Pendleton, A. G., 1856. 

Palmer, Joseph H., 1861. 

Pendleton, Jas. H., 1864. 

Preston, Henry S., 1867. 

Page, R. M., 1868. 

Page, L. R., 1873. 

Penn, Geo. E., 1875. 

Preston, Walter E., 1875. 

Porterfield, G. C, 1882. 

Page, Wm., 1885. 

Price, John W., 1893. 

Quarrier, F. M., 1864. 

Richmond, Jonathan, 1861. 

Ramsay, John C, 1864. 

Richardson, Robert 1866. 

Royal, W. L., 1871. 

Robertson, Walter H., 1874. 

Robinson, A. L., 1878. 

Rhea, W. F., 18—. 

Sheffey, James W., 1833. 

S,mjt\\, Harold, 1833. 

Sharp, John D., 1836. 

Stevens, John W., 1840. 

Shaver, Leonidas, 1844. 

Sawyers, Thos. L. W., 1848. 

Strother, James A., 1857. 

Speed, John W., 1860. 

Sheffey, John P., 1856. 

Stafford, John W., 1866. 

Summers, John Calhoun, .... 1866. 
Smyth, Francis, 1880. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



837 



Smythe, W. F., 1881. 

Stuart, John J., 1883. 

Sutherland, H. W., 1890. 

Summers, Lewis Preston, ....1895. 

Shackleford, J. B., 1892. 

Summers, Robert J., 1896. 

Trigg Gonnally F., 1833. 

1836. 



Trigg, L. H., 

Teetor, Josiah, 18.58. 

Talliferro, Wm. M., 1866. 

Taylor, Henry H., 1866. 

Trigg, Daniel, 1869. 

Trigg, C. F., 1869. 



Lawyers Practising in the Superior Court of Chancery for Washing- 
ton County in the Years 1812-1831, Wytheville, Va. 



Tilson, Thomas J., 


....1874 


Vance, C. R., 


....1862 


Wilson, John, 


1831 


White, Francis S., 


1838 


Watson, Ed. S., 


1856 


White, James L., 


....1867 


Ward, George W., 


1874 


Wiley, Edward, 


....1896 


Watson, John W. C, . . . 


1837 


White, John P., 


....1853 


Wysor, Benj. F., 


1860 


Wood, Harvey J., 


....1868 


White, Milton, 


....1883 



Chapman, John. 
Sheffey, Daniel. 
Estill, Benj. 
Dixon, Henry St. John. 
Chapman, Henry. 
Smyth, Alex. 
Campbell, Edward. 
McComas, David. 
Johnston, Chas. C. 
Mayo, Peter. 
Craig, Robert. 
Draper, Joseph. 
Fulton, John H. 
Smith, Wm. 
McFarland, Jos. T. 
Logan, Samuel. 
Vanstavern, Nicholas. 
Foster, John. 
Stuart, Archibald. 
Sisson, Baldwin L. 
McCamart, Samuel. 



Harrison, Chas. E. 
Leftwich, Isaac J. 
Carter, Dale. 
Fulton, Andrew S. 
Preston, Wm. B. 
Pendleton, Albert G. 
Johnston, B. R. 
Bekem, Chas. S. 
Boyd, Thomas J. 
Thompson, James. 
Williamson, John. 
McHenry, Andrew. 
Henderson, Granville. 
Forbes, John. 
Henderson, Arthur. 
Michie, Thomas J. 
Linton, John. 
Preston, W. C. 
Field, Silas. 
Gray, John G. 
Smith, William. 
Haden, Samuel. 



Deputy Ci>ekks of Washington County Court. 



Branch, Peter J., 1847. 

Blackwell, A. R., 1884. 

Baugh, Leonidas, 1869. 

Cosby, L. T., 1875. 

Cummings, R. P., 1889. 

Campbell, Robert, 1777. 

Campbell, John, 1778. 



Cummings, D. C, Jr., 1882 

Campbell, E. K., 1876 

Cummings, D. C, Sr., 1871 

Evans, W. F., 1882 

Henritze, B. J., 1868 

Kreger, John G., 1848 

Trigg, Thos. K., 1865 



838 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Lynch, Jacob, 1858. Page, E. M., 186G. 

Lj-nch, Richard, 1838. Page, Wm., 1870. 

Pi-eston, S. R., 1897. Webb, Wm., 1784. 

Deputy Clerks Circuit Court. 

Branch, Peter J., 1842. Kreger, John G., 1858. 

Campbell, Jas. C, 186C. Lynch, Jacob, 1831. 

Campbell, David, 1835. Lynch, Richard, 1839-1869. 

Cummings, David C, St., .... 1869. Lowry, Wm. G. G., 1865. 

Dixon, Richard T., 1833. Moore, Albert B., 1838. 

Treasurers of Washington County. 

Barr, George R., 1870. Bradley, John 0., 1899. 

Gray, John C, 1881. Clark, Benj. C, 1875. 

Withers, Salmon M., 18S7. 

Superintendents of Alms House. 

Miller. Jacob August 24. 1843. Colley, Thomas W., 1878. 

Ryan, James 1865. Porter, W. J., 1887. 

Stanfield, John C, 1871. Caldwell, R. J., 1891. 

Thompson, James H., 1875. Casteel, John R., 1899. 

Deputy Treasurers of Washington County. 

Betts, W. H., 1875. Barr, John W., 1873. 

Blackwell, A. R., 1896. Clark, W. W., 1875. 

Carmack, D. C, 1878. Caywood, W. W., 1879. 

Duff, D. A., 1878. Dunn, Geo. R., 1870. 

Findlay, F. S., 1870. Geisler, J. M., 1883. 

Geisler, J. J., 1883. Milliard, R. A., 1895. 

James, N. S., 1890. Jones, L F., 1875. 

Mumpower, R. B., 1875. McXeal, W. B., 1875. 

McChesney, Sani'l J., 1883. Nunley, C. A., 1887. 

Ritchie, J. L., 1875. Ryburn, Wm. S., 1871. 

Withers, S. M., 1878. Williams, James, 1875. 

Sisk, J. C, 1899. Kendrick, Cas, 1899. 

Commissioners of the Revenue of Washington County. 

Duffy, James, 1798. Campbell, D. A. P., 1864. 

Snodgrass, Wm., 1807. Terry, John F., 1865. 

Snodgrass, Wm., 1810. Miller, Jacob, 1869. 

King, Jonathan, 1837-1843. Clark, Benj. C, 1870. 

Ropp, John M., 1848. Blackwell, John D., 1875. 

Mongle, Abram, 1850. Blackwell, John D., 1883. 

Lowry, James K., 1851. Ritchie, James L., 1887. 

Edmondson, John L. G., 1856. Duff, D. A., 1891. 

Campbell, D. A. P., 1860. Duff', D. A., 1895. 

Miller, Wm., 1862. Maiden, John W., 1899. 



Washington Counhj, 1777-1870. 

Hamilton, Frederick, 1802. Miller, Wni., 

Fulkerson, Tliomas, 1819. Campbell, D. A. P., 

Smith, Parker, 1837-1843. Barker, William, . 

Trigg, A. B., 1843-1844. Campbell, D. A. P., 

King, Jonathan, 1844-1850. Hendricks, Thos. P., 

Edmondson, Andrew, 1851. Keller, C. F., 

Henderson, Robert, 1852-1856. Keller, C. F., 

Campbell, Jas. L. F., ...1852-1860. Keller, C. F., 

Davis, John G. R., 1860. Roberts, John, 

Duff, W. K., 1862. Roberts, John, 



839 

.1864. 

1865. 
,1869. 
,1870. 
,1875. 
,1883. 
,1887. 

1891. 
,1895. 
,1899. 



Surveyors of Augusta County, 1745-1770. 

Lewis, Thos. 

Deputy Surveyors. 

Buchanan, John. Walker, Thomas, 1752. 

Botetourt County, 1770-1773. 

Preston, William, 1773. 

Deputy Surveyors. 

Trimble, James, 1770. May, Robert, 1771. 

Smith, Francis, 1771. Lewis, Samuel, 1772. 

FiNCASTLE County, 1773-1776. 

Preston, William, 1773. 

Deputy Surveyors. 

1774. Russell, Wm., 

Preston, Robert, 1774. 

Washington County. 



Floyd, John, 



,1774. 



Surveyors. 



Preston, Robert, 1779. 

Black, James C, 1852. 

Bradley. John L., 1883. 

Buchanan, R. G., 1887. 

Buchanan, R. G., 1896. 



Latham, Edward, 1831. 

McQuown, Isaac A., 1862. 

McQuown, Isaac A., 1883. 

Gobble, E. L., 1895. 

Cumbow, Anderson H., 1899. 



Coroners. 



Craig, Robert, 1780. 

Orr, James, 1845. 

Buchanan, Benj. K., 1844. 

Maxwell, Alex. C, 1865. 

Jones, A. M., 1889. 



Lewis, Aaron, 1780. 

Gibson, C. C, 1842. 

Graham, William, 1852. 

Barr, John W., 1875. 



Washington County Supervisors, 1870-1904. 
Supervisors Abingdon District. 



Greenway, Jas. C, 1870-1873. 

Campbell, Jas. C, 1873-1875. 

Kreger, John G., 1875-1879. 

Preston, Robert A., 1879-1891. 

Fugat«, Henley, 1891-1893. 



Gray, Robert H., 1893-1897. 

Rush, Robert W., 1897-1899. 

Hope, Thomas A., 1899-1901. 

Hayter, James C, 1901-1904. 



840 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



Supervisors North Fork District. 



Counts, L. H., 1887-1889. 

Counts, James M., 1889-1891. 

Price, James T., 1891-1895. 

Butt, James H., 1895-1897. 

Stanfield, John C, 1897-1904. 



Mallicote, Jasper N., 1870-1873. 

Dickenson, Mongle, 1873-1874. 

Mallicote, Jasper N., . . .1874-1875. 

Roberts, John, 1875-1879. 

Price, James T., 1879-1883. 

Stanfield, John C, 1883-1887. 

Supervisors Glade Spring District. 
Porterfield, James C, ...1870-1873. Buchanan, James S., 

Crow, James, 1873-1877. 

Porterfield, James C, 1877-1887. 

Allison, Robert C, 1887-1889. 



Porterfield, J. C, . . 
Stuart, George, .... 
Williams, Joseph D., 

Supervisors Saltville District. 

Kelly, Jonas S., 1870-1883. Talbert, Andrew J., 

Kelly, James, 1883-1885. 

Kelly, Jonas S., 1885-1887. 

Davenport, Solomon R., . .1887-1889. 
Kelly, Jonas S., 1889-1891. 



Litton, L. R., 

Davenport, R. H., , 

Henderson, W. F. (died), 
Litton, L. R. (appointed), 



Supervisors Goodson District. 



^Davis, John M., 1870-1872. 

^reston, Francis, 1872-1874. 

Johnson, Walter, 1874-1879. 

Rader, W. A., 1879-1881. 

Preston, James B., 1881-1885. 

King, James A., 1885-1887. 



Rader, W. A., 

Berry, David L., . . . 
Rhea, Edward R., . 
Berry, David L., • • . 
Campbell, John W., 
Susong, J. 0., 

Supervisors KinderJiook District. 

Holly, Henry C, 1870-1871. Jolmson, Jacob H., 

Vance, Emmet B., 1871-1872. 

Barker, Joseph H., 1872 . 

Pettyjohn, G. W. (ap't'd), 1872-1875. 

Price, Daniel E., 1875-1879. 

Cook, L. C, 1879-1881. 

Withers, S. M., 1881-1883. 

Barb, Lacy J., 1883-1885. 

Price, Daniel E., 1885-1887. 



Hilliard, R. A., . . 
Sharrett, Wm. R,, 
Snodgrass, L. H., 
Barker, A. F., ... 
Fleenor, W. M., . . 
Dye, Creed F., . . 
Ellington, J. E., . 



.1889-1891. 
.1891-1895. 
.1895-1901. 
.1901-1904. 

.1891-1895. 
.1895-1899. 
.1899-1901. 

1901-1902. 

1902-1904. 

.1887-1891. 
.1891-1895. 
.1895-1897. 
.1897-1899. 
.1899-1901. 
.1901-1904. 

.1887-1889. 
.1889-1891. 
.1891-1893. 
1893-1895. 
.1895-1897. 
.1897-1899. 
.1899-1901. 
.1901-1904. 



Supervisors Holston District. 



Hawthorne, B. D., 1891-1895. 

Preston, R. B., 1895-1897. 

Widener, Wm. M., 1897-1899. 

Preston, R. B., 1899-1904. 



Crow, James, 1877-1883. 

Rosenbalm, Joel, 1883-1885. 

Smith, John B., 1885-1887. 

Widener, Wm. M., 1887-1891. 

Constables on Holston. 
1755. G«orge Stalnaker appointed Constable on Holston river. 

Botetourt County, 1770-1773. 
Stem, Frederick. Davis, Robert. 

Prewitt, William. Lester, John. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



8'il 



FiNCASTLE County, 1773-1776. 

David Beattie, from Kincannon's to Bryan's Fort. 

James Bryan, from his fort to Black's Fort. 

Andrew Colvill, from Black's Fort to ford of Beaver Creek. 

John Carmack, from Beaver Creek to Bledsoe's Fort. 

David Steel, from Bledsoe's Fort to Meeting House. 

John Adair, from Meeting House to Amos Eaton's. 

Samuel Simpson, on Holston. 

Samuel Wilson. 

John Upton. 

1773. John Crow, on upper part of Holston. 

1773. Thomas Byrd, on upper part Holston. 

1773. Samuel Simpson, from Eleven-Mile Creek to Spring Creek and across 

the Holston waters. 
1773. Samuel Wilson, from Spring Creek to Steel's. Creek and across the 

Holston waters. 
1773. From Steel's Creek to county line and across the Holston waters. 
1773. Robert Williams, on Holston in place Samuel Wilson. 

1773. Jacob Stems, on Holston in place of Tlaomas Byrd. 

1774. Samuel White, in place of Jacob Sterns. 

1775. Rich Humphreys, in Capt. Wm. Campbell's company. 



Washington County, 1777-178-4. 



Able, Jeremiah. 
Alley, James. 
Acklin, Christopher. 
Anderson, William. 
Allen, Christopher. 
Brown, Robert. 
Brooks, Castleton. 
Berry, George. 
Berry, John. 
Bailey, Stephen. 
Breding, John. 
Chambers, Mark. 
Craig, John. 
Cole, Sampson. 
Crunk, Wm. 
Duncan, Rawley. 
Davidson, Joseph. 
Doran, Alexander. 
Dorton, Wm. 
Duncan, John. 
Edmiston, Thomas. 
Ellis, Wm. 



Constables. 
Evans, Joseph. 
Evans, Samuel. 
Funkhouser, John. 
Fain, John. 
Fullen, James. 
Graham, John. 
Gibson, Samuel. 
Hicks, William. 
Hazel, Daniel. 
Holt, Sebastian. 
Hall, Jesse. 
Higganbothan, Moses, 
Keewood, John. 
Laughlin, James. 
Lean, William. 
Lindsay, Isaac. 
Laird, James. - 
Loveless, John. 
McClung, Francis. 
Moore, Richard. 
McCulloch, Robert. 
McCauley, James. 



Maxwell, John. 
Musick, Jonathan. 
Oney, Richard. 
Osborne, John. 
Owen, John. 
Patterson, Wm. 
Price, Richard. 
Robinson, Wm. 
Rogers, John. 
Rowan, Isaac. 
Steel, James. 
Sharp, John. 
Snodgrass, Joseph. 
Scott, Wm. 
Teeter, John. 
Vanhook, Samuel. 
Vance, John. 
Wharton, James. 
Williams, Robert. 
Whisinhunt, John. 
Woolsey, Richard. 



842 Sontlnvest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

ROADS. 

Overseers and Suuveyors Augusta County, 1853. 

Mar. 23, John Lowry, Appointed surveyors to open a road from 

Henry Holston. John's Creek over the mountain the nearest 

and best way. 

Botetourt County, 1770-1773. 
June 12, 1770. Aithur Campbell, from State line to Royal Oak. 
June 12, 1770. James Davis, from Royal Oak to his home. 
June 12, 1770. Richard Higginson. 

Mar. 13, 1770. Francis Kincannon, from Stalnaker's to Eleven-Mile Creek. 
Mar. 13, 1770. Tliomas Ramsey, from Eleven-Mile Creek to Beaver Creek. 
Mar. 13, 1770. David Looney, from Beaver Creek to Fall Creek. 
Jan. 6, 1773. Andrew Colvill, from Eighteen-Mile Creek to Beaver Creek. 
Jan. 6, 1773. Stephen Jordan, from Beaver Creek to Steel's Creek. 
Jan. 6, 1773. David Steel, from Steel's Creek to Muddy Creek. 
Jan. 6, 1773. Moses Looney, from Muddy Creek to county line. 
Mar. 2, 1774. Michael Cregor, from S. F. Reed Creek to crossing below 

Jacob Catherine's. 
Sept. 7, 1773. Roger Topp, on Holston in place of Stephen ylordan's. 

FiNCASTLE County, 1773-1777. 

Jan. 5, 1773. Arthur Bowen, from Seven-Mile Ford to lower end Roy.il 

Oak. 

Jan. 5, 1773. John Hay, from lower end of Royal Oak to Alex. Wiley's. 

Jan. 5, 1773. Alex. Wiley, from his home to Wm. Davis'. 

Jan. 5, 1773. Wm. Davis, from his house to South Fork Reedy Creek. 

Jan. 5, 1773. James l^inley, from Wm. Davis' to McCall's place. 

July 6, 1773. James Smith, from Castlevvoods to Elk Garden. 

July 6, 1773. David Cowan, from Castlewoods to Elk Garden. 

July 6, 1773. \Nni. Crabtree, from Town House to Big Lick. 

July 6, 1773. Peter Lee, from Big Lick to Clinch Moimtain. 

July 6, 1773. William Campbell, from Seven-Mile Ford to Big Spring. 

July 6, 1773. Wm. Edmiston, from Big Spring to James Kincannon's. 

July 6, 1773. Jas. Bryan, from Kincannon's to Eighteen-Mile Creek. 

July 6, 1773. Jas. Montgomery, from Eleven-Mile Creek to his home. 

July 6, 1773. James Young, from thence to Isaac Riddle's. 

July 6, 1773. Isaac Riddle's, from thence to ford of Holston. 
Sept. 7, 1773. John Reed, from Eighteen-Mile Creek to John McKinley's. 
Aug. 3, 1774. John Shelby, from Watauga road in room of Isaac Riddle. 

Sept. 3, 1776. Wm. Calhoun, from Wylie's Ford to Mill Creek, at Royal 

Oak. 

Sept. 3, 1776. Andrew Bowen, from Royal Oak to Seven-Mile Ford. 

Sept. 3, 1776. William Story, from Seven-Mile Ford to Grayson Springs. 

Sept. 3, 1776. Geo. Adams, from Grayson Springs to James Kincannon's. 

Sept. 3, 1776. David Beattie, from Kincannon's to Bryan's Fort. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



843 



Sept. 3, 1776. James Bryan, from Bryan's Fort to Black's Fort. 

Sept. 3, 1776. Andrew Colvill, from Black's Fort to Beaver Creek. 

Sept. 3, 1776. John Carmack, from Beaver Creek to Major Bledsoe's. 

Sept. 3, 1776. David Steel, from Bledsoe's to the Meeting House. 

Sept. 3, 1776. John Adair, from Meeting House to Amos Eaton's. 



Washingto?^ County, 1777-1784. 



Anderson, Jacob. 
Allison, Charles. 
Ayliott, James. 
Anderson, Benjamin. 
Brj'an, James. 
Berry, Thomas. 
Berry, James. 
Beattie, Wm. 
Bates, Joseph. 
Beattie, John. 
Bowen, Wm. 
Baylor, John. 
Barnett, Alexander. 
Buchanan, George. 
Bates, Wm. 
Bowen, Ohas. 
Breckenridge, Alex. 
Bowles, John. 
Buchanan, Samuel. 
Berry, John. 
Bradl«y, John. 
Colvill, Andrew. 
Cox, John. 
Craig, Robert. 
Craig, David. 
Carmack, Cornelius. 
Cole, Hugh. 
Clark, George. 
Carter, Thomas. 
Campbell, Robert. 
Cunningham, Jonath. 
Caldwell, Thomas. 
Doolan, James. 
Dorton, Wm. 
Davis, Andrew. 
Davis, John. 



Doran, James. 
Eaton, Amos. 
Edmiston, Robert. 
Edmiston, John. 
Elliott, Wm. 
Evans, Andrew. 
Fowler, James. 
Fulton, Thomas. 
Funkhouser, John. 
Fowler, John. 
Fin ley, George. 
Farris, Isaac. 
Gray, Benj. 
Gray, Joseph. 
Gamble, Josiah. 
Galbrath, Arthur. 
Gamble, James. 
Gilmore, Wm. 
Griever, Philip. 
Halbard, Wm. 
Hay, John. 
Halfacre, Michael. 
Helter, Abraham. 
Holland, Wm. 
Heard, Joseph. 
Hobhs, Thomas. 
Hope, Adam. 
Johnston, Curtis. 
Kincannon, Andrew. 
Kinkead, John. 
Keewood, John. 
Keewood, Stephen. 
Lewis, Aaron. 
Laughlin, Alexander 
Linder, Anthony. 
Montgomery', Wm. 



Mahon, David. 
McElwee, James. 
McMillian, Wm. 
Markland, Wm. 
Oglesby, Elisha. 
Outlaw, Alexander. 
Piper, James. 
Robinson, Wm. 
Rice, Henry. 
Rosebrough, Wm. 
Ramey, Daniel. 
Steel, David. 
Sharp, John. 
Snoddy, John. 
Scott, Wm. 
Sproles, James. 
Smith, Wm. 
Smith, Thomas. 
Scott, Archibald. 
Smith, John. 
Topp, Roger. 
Tewell, Obadiah. 
Teat, Robert. 
Tate, Wm. 
Tate, Thomas. 
Vance, Alexander. 
Vanhook, Aaron. 
Wylie, Alexander. 
Whitney, Francis. 
White, Solomon. 
Willoughby, Andrew. 
Walker, Wm. 
Wheeler, James. 
Wood, Jonathan. 
Young, Daniel. 



844 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



MINISTERS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



Cunningham, Oscar F., 1837. 

Rogers, Russell B., 1839. 

Crismond, John M., 1840. 

Harris, John E., 1840. 

Cunningham, B. K., 1843. 

*Wiley, E. E., 1845. 

•Burnett, Jackson S., 1845. 

Brooks, Archibald T., 1847. 

*Hickey, Rufus M., 1851. 

*Wexler, Edwin P., 1853. 

*Dickey, James M., 1856. 

*Davis, James A., 1857. 

Stewart, A. D., 1861. 

*Keys, James, 1862. 

Fraley, Francis A., 1863. 

♦Harris, W. A., 1863. 

Andrews, G. C, 1867. 

McCulloch, J. L., 1870. 

Gobble, Jonathan, 1871. 

Polk, James K., 1872. 

*Atkins, Daniel H., 1874. 

Smith, Robert E., 1875. 

Cunningham, John R., 1877. 

*Hoss, E. E., 1879. 

Wright, Thomas, 1879. 

Bowman, Uriah, 1879. 

Bean, John M., 1880. 

*Blake, Eugene, 1880. 

*Leith, W. H., 1882. 

Dyer, M. A., 1884. 

Henderson, W. H., 1886. 

Todd, I. N., 1886. 

*Munsey, I. N., 1887. 

*Neal, T. G., 1889. 

*Stradley, Charles L., 1891. 

*Fisher, C. C, 1893. 

Barker, C. H., 1896. 



Page, Gabriel F., 1837. 

Kelly, John M., 1840. 

Ingle, Willis, 1840. 

Atkins, James, 1843. 

Alexander, G. W., 1843. 

Gibson, John D., 1845. 

*Longley, Edmund, 1847. 

♦Cunningham, Wm. G. E., 1849. 

*Huffaker, Jas. U. S., 1852. 

*MeTeer, John M., 1853, 

*Bates, Wm. H., 1857. 

*Stringfield, J. K., I860. 

*Munsey, Wm. E., 1861. 

* Smith," Tobias F., 1863. 

*Priee, R. N., 1863. 

Crumly, T. D., 1867. 

Leonard, Wilson, 1868. 

Davenport, David, 1870. 

Tippens, Henry, 1872. 

Ingle, A. H., 1873. 

Holt, J. H., 1875. 

Rider, Wm., 1877. 

*AtKins, James, 1878. 

Jordan, J. T., 1879. 

*Maiden, Geo. A., 1879. 

Pippin, L N., 1879. 

Grace, John E., 1880. 

Crumly, T. J., 1882. 

Johnston, G. F., 1883. 

*Mort, E. W., 1885. 

Kilgore, J.* E., 1886. 

Buckner, R. J., 1887. 

*Carden, W. C, 1888. 

*Maiden, J. M., 1890. 

*Chambers, J. R., 1892. 

♦Barker, S. N., 1894. 

Dye, A. v., 1895. 



Cummings, Charles, 1781. 

Craighead, Thos. Brown, 1782. 

Taylor, Albert G., 1844. 

Morrison, Levi R., 1847. 

Hodge, Samuel, 1854. 

Caldwell, Geo. E., 1865. 



Presbyterian Ministers. 

Sullivan, John 0., 1876. 

Rogers, J. W., 1881. 

Brooks, Ebenezer, 1781. 

McEwen, Alexander, 1819. 

MeChain, James, 1844. 

King, John R., 1848. 



*Methodist Episcopal, South. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



845 



Blackburn, Andrew, 1857. 

Carson, James C, 1872. 



Briscoe, J. P., 

Henderlite, R. E., .... 



.1878. 
.1896. 



Protestant Episcopal. 



McCabe, James D., 184G. 

Mobray, Wm., 1861. 

Mickle, John B., 1868. 

McNabb, John, 1876. 

Sykes, J. W., 188.5. 



Lee, Henry T., 1854. 

Ingle, Edward A., 1864. 

Brooks, Pendleton, 1871. 

Funstan, James B., 1882. 



IVIethodist Peotestant Ministers. 



Lawton, John W., 1837. 

Cosby, Lewis F., 1833. 

Woods, James M., 1842. 

Butt, Thomas, 1849. 

Wilkinson, J. P., 1878. 

Dameron, H. C, 1881. 



Roberts, Zeb C, 1897. 

Stinson, Mandird, 1840. 

Rhor, Philip, 1841. 

Barr, Geo. R., 1842. 

Butt, Henry C, 1870. 

Musick, A. G., 1880. 



Christian Ministers. 



Buck, David M., 1849. 

Milliard, Samuel H., 1853. 

Lindsay, F. E. G., 1865. 

Pendleton, W. J., 1875. 

Baptist 

Burgess, Timothy, 1781 . 

Cockrell, Simon, 1782. 

Senter, Drury, 1819. 

Countiiss, John, 1843. 

Patterson, Andrew, 1844. 

Baker, Sherwood M., M. B., ..1854. 

Lindsay, C. E. W,, 1857. 

White, B. F., M. B., 1865. 

Phelps, John, 1866. 

Spiller, Richard, 1874. 

Buck, E. C, 1875. 

Mason, H. B., 1879. 

Ross, J. H., 1881. 

Richards, J. C, 1886. 

Bellamy, H. W., 1888. 

Upchurch, M. B., 1888. 

Petty, Thomas H., 1888. 

Jones, E. D., 1892. 

Cox, Jesse H., 1892. 

Manual, W. F., 1896. 

Baldwin, Noah C, . 

Woolsey, Thomas, 1781. 

Frost, John, 1784. 

Barker, Joseph, 1840. 



Gobble, John, 1851. 

Metcalf, S. P., 1863. 

Foster, John W., 1865. 

Ministers. 

Davenport, Juliuis T., 1844. 

Cole, Uriah, 1850. 

Speer, James 0., 1857. 

Wharton, Morton B., M. B., ... 1862. 

Fleenor, Wm. F., 1866. 

Talbert, James G., 1872. 

Armsted, J. M., 1875. 

Taylor, Henry, 1877. 

Smith, David, 1880. 

Hanner, James R., 1882. 

Thomas, W. J., 1888. 

Thomas, John F., 1888. 

Thomas, J. W., 1888. 

Morris, J. M., 1890. 

Fullen, John W., 1892. 

Edmondson, T. F., 1894. 

Henderson, W. T., 1898. 

Colley, Thomas W., . 

Buck, D. T., Church of Dis., . . . 1880. 

Masters, J. W., 1883. 

Buck, C. S., 1884. 

Hapgood, Josephus, 1882. 

Barnett, Wm., 1884. 

Howington, W. M., 1884. 



846 



Southwest Virginia, 17^6-1786. 



Missionary Baptist Ministers. 

Edmondson, Elijah, 1850. Maiden, Henry A., 1871. 

Little, L. H., 1884. Little, Branson, 1888. 

Church of Christ Ministers. 

Gentry, E. B., 1895. Chapman, J. W., 1895. 

Campbell, J. A., 1895. 



Lutheran Ministers. 
Hancher, Wm., 1830. Brown, Abel J., 



1852. 



Universalist Ministers. 
Chambers, Wm. R., 1848. 

Reformer Ministers. 
Snyder, Jacob, regular, 1783. 

Catholic Ministers. 

Silvian, Wm., 1871. Murray, John, 1882. 

Oliver, Emile, 1890. Toner, George H., 1895. 

Burke, P. F., 1897. 

The following is a complete table of the candidates for President of the 
United States from the formation of our government to date, with the name 
of the party to which they were attached: 



Party. Year. 

No party 1789. . 

Federalist 1792 . . 

Federalist 1796 . . 

Republican 1796.. 

Republican 1800 . . 

Federalist 1800.. 

Republican 1804 . . 

Federalist 1804. . 

Republican 1808.. 

Federalist 1808.. 

Republican 1808 . . 

Republican 1812 . . 

Federalist 1812.. 

Republican 1816. . 

Feueralist 1816 . . 

Republican 1820 . . 

Opposition 1820 . . 

Republican 1824 . . 

Coalition 1824.. 

Republican 1824 . . 

Republican 1824 . . 



Candidates. 

• George Washington. . .No opposition. 

• George W^ashington. . .No opposition. 

.John Adams Elected. 

- Thomas Jeflferson Defeated. 

. Thomas Jefferson Elected. 

. John Adams Defeated. 

. Thomas Jefferson Elected. 

. Charles C. Pinckney Defeated. 

. James Madison Elected. 

• Charles C. Pinckney Defeated. 

• George Clinton Defeated. 

• James Madison Elected. 

• DeWitt Clinton Defeated. 

• James Monroe Elected. 

. Ruf us King Defeated. 

• James Monroe Elected. 

. John Q. Adams Defeated. 

• Andrew Jackson No election. 

• John Q. Adams No election. 

. William H. Crawford . . . No election. 
■ Henry Clay No election. 



Washington Conniy, 1777-1870. 



847 



The popular election not resulting in anj' candidate having a majority 
of the electoral vote, the election devolved upon the House of Representa- 
tives. Adams was elected on the first ballot, receiving the votes of thirteen 
States; Jackson, seven, and Crawford, four States. 
Party. Year. Candidates. 

Democratic 1828 . . . .Andrew Jackson Elected. 

National Republican 1828 . . . .John Q. Adams Defeated. 

This is the first election at wnich the party name Democrat was used. 
Previous to that date the party was called Republican and the opposition 
Federalists. 



Party. Year. 

Democratic 1832.. 

Republican 1832.. 

'. 1832.. 

Anti-Masonic 1832 . . 

Democratic 1836 . . 

Whig 1836.. 

Whig 1836.. 

Whig 1836.. 

Whig 1836.. 

Whig 1840.. 

Democratic 1840 . . 

Liberty 1840.. 

Democratic 1844 . . 

Whig 1844.. 

Liberty 1844.. 

Whig 1848.. 

Democratic 1848 . . 

Free Soil 1848.. 

Democratic 1852 . . 

Whig 1852.. 

Free Democratic 1852 . . 

Democratic 1856 . . 

Republican 1856. . 

American 18.56 . . 



Candidates. 
. .Andrew Jackson Elected. 

• Henry Clay Defeated. 

. .John Floyd Defeated. 

. .William Wirt Defeated. 

. . Martm Van Bui'en Elected. 

. . William Henry Harrison . . Defeated. 

. -Hugh L. Willie Defeated. 

. . Daniel Webster Defeated. 

. . W. R. Margerum Defeated. 

. . W. H. Harrison Elected. 

. .Martin Van Buren Defeated. 

. James G. Birney Defeated. 

. . James K. Polk Elected. 

. . Henry Clay Defeated. 

. . James G. Birney Defeated. 

. . Zachary Taylor Elected. 

. .Lewis Cass Defeated. 

■ -Martin Van Buren Defeated. 

. . Franklin Pierce Elected. 

. .Winfield Scott Defeated. 

. .John P. Hale Defeated. 

• . James Buchanan Elected. 

. John C. Fremont Defeated. 

..Millard Filiiiore Defeated. 



This was the first appearance of the present Republican partj^ in the field 
of national politics. Their National Convention was held in Philadelplii.i. 



Party. Year. 

Republican 1860. 

Democratic 1860 . 

Constitutional Union 1860. 

Independent Democratic . . . 1860 . 

Republican 1864. 

Democratic 1864 . 

Republican 1868 . 

Democratic 1868 . 



Candidates. 

.Abraham Lincoln Elected. 

.J. C. Breckenridge Defeated. 

.John Bell Defeated. 

.Stephen A. Douglas Defeated. 

.Abraham Lincoln Elected. 

.George B. McClellan Defeated. 

. U. S. Grant Elected. 

• H. Seymour Defeated. 



848 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



Party. Year. 

Republican 1872 . . 

Democratic and Liberty .. 1872.. 

Democratic 1872 . . 

Opposition Democratic 1872 . . 

Temperance 1872 . . 

Opposition Democratic .... 1872.. 
Opposition Democratic .... 1872. . 
Opposition Democratic .... 1872. . 

Republican 1876 . . 

Democratic 1876 . . 

Greenback 1876 . . 

Prohibition 1876 . . 

Republican 1880 . . 

Democratic 1880 . . 

Greenback 1880. . 

Prohibition 1880 . . 

American 1880. . 

Democratic 1884 . . 

Republican 1884 . . 

Prohibition 1884 . . 

Greenback 1884 . . 

Republican 1888 . . 

Democratic 1888 . . 

Prohibition 1888 . . 

Union Labor 1888 . . 

American 1888. . 

Union Labor 1888 . . 

Equal Rights 1888 . . 

Industrial Reform 1888. . 

Democratic 1892 . . 

Republican 1892 . . 

People's 1892. . 

Prohibition 1892. . 

Socialist Labor 1892 . . 

Republican 1896 . . 

Democratic 1896 . . 

Prohibition 1896. . 

People's 1896. . 

Socialist Labor 1896 . . 

National 1896.. 

Naiional Democrat 1896 . . 



Candidates. 

. . U. S. Grant Elected. 

. . H. Greeley Defeated. 

. . Chas. O'Connor Defeated. 

. . rhos. A. Hendricks Defeated. 

. . James Black Defeated. 

. . B. Gratz Brown Defeated. 

. .C. J. Jenkins Defeated. 

. . David Davis Defeated. 

. . R. B. Hayes Elected. 

. . S. J. Tilden Defeated. 

• ■ Peter Cooper Defeated. 

. . G. Clay Smith Defeated. 

. .James A. Garfield Elected. 

• • W. S. Hancock Defeated. 

. . J. B. Weaver Defeated. 

. . Neal Dow Defeated. 

. . John W. Phelps Defeated. 

. .Grover Cleveland Elected. 

. .James G. Blaine Defeated. 

. . J. P. St. John . Defeated. 

. . B. F. Butler Defeated. 

. - Benjamin Harrison Elected. 

. . Grover Clevel nd Defeated. 

. .C. B. Fisk Defeated. 

. .A. J. Streeter Defeated. 

. . J. L. Curtis Defeated. 

. . R. H. Cowdrey Defeated. 

. . Belva Lockwood Defeated. 

. . A. E. Redstone Defeated. 

• • Grover Cleveland Elected. 

. . Benjamin Harrison Defeated. 

. . J. B. Weaver Defeated. 

. . J. Bidwell Defeated. 

• Simon Wing Defeated. 

. . William McKinley Elected. 

. . William J. Bryan Defeated. 

. • J. Levering Defeated. 

. . W. J. Bryan Defeated. 

. . C. B. Matchett Defeated. 

. . C. E. Bentley Defeated. 

. . J. M. Palmer Defeated. 



Tlie Vice-President has succeeded the President on five occasions, by reason 
of the President's death in each case. Tyler succeeded Harrison in 1841; 
Filmore, Taylor in 1850; Johnson, Lincoln in 1865; Arthur, Garfield in 
1881, and Roosevelt, McKinley in 1901. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



849 



LIST OF VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
Name. State. Political Party. Qualified. 

John Adams Mass Federalist June 3, 1789 

John Adams Mass Federalist Dec 

Tliomas Jefferson Va Dem.-Republican 

Aaron Burr N. Y Dem.-Republican 

George Clinton N. Y Dem.-Republican 

George Clinton N. Y Dem.-Republican 

Elbridge Gerry Mass Dem.-Republican 

Daniel D. Tompkins N. Y Dem.-Republican 

Daniel D. Tompkins N. Y Dem.-Republican 

John C. Calhoun S. C Dem.-Republican 

John C. Calhoun S. C Dem.-Republican 

Martin Van Buren N. Y Democratic .... 

Richard M. Johnson Ken Democratic . . . 

John Tyler Va Elected by Whigs 

George M. Dallas, Penn Democratic March 

Millard Filmore N. Y Whig March 

Wm. R. King Ala Democratic March 

John C. Breckenridge Ky Democratic March 

Hannibal Hamlin Maine .... Republican March 

Andrew Johnson Tenn Republican March 

Schuyler Colfax Ind Republican March 4 

Henry Wilson Mass Republican March 4 

Wm. A. Wheeler N. Y Republican March 5 

Chester A. Arthur N. Y Republican March 4 

Thomas A. Hendricks Ind Democratic March 4 

Levi P. Morton N. Y Republican March 4 

Adlai E. Stevenson Ill Democratic March 4 

Garrett A. Hobart N. J Republican March 4 



March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
March 5 
March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
March 4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 



1793. 
1797. 
1801. 
1805. 
1809. 
1813. 
1817. 
1821. 
1825. 
1829. 
1833. 
1837. 
1841. 
1845. 
1849. 
1853. 
1857. 
1861. 
1865. 
1869. 
1873. 
1877. 
1881. 
1885. 
1889. 
1893. 
1897. 



SUPREME COURT, CHIEF JUSTICES AND ASSOCIATE JUSTICES. 

Chief Justices. Associate Justices. State. Term of Service. 
John Jay N. Y 1789 to 1795. 

John Rutledge S. C 1789. Declined. 

William Cushing Mass 1789 to 1810. 

Robert H. Harrison ■ -Maryland 1789 to 1790. 

James Wilson Pa 1789 to 1798. 

John Blair Va 1789 to 1796. 

James Iredell N. C 1790 to 1799. 

Thomas Johnson Maryland 1791 to 1793. 

William Paterson . . . .N. J 1793 to 1806. 

John Rutledge. . . ( Not confirmed. ) S. C 1795 to 1795. 

William Cushing Mass 1796. Declined. 

Samuel Chase Maryland 1796 to 1811. 

Oliver Elsworth Conn 1796 to 1800. 

Bushrod Washington . . Va 1798 to 1829. 

Alfreu Moore N. C 1799 to 1804. 



850 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Chief Justices. Associate Justices. State. Term of Service. 

John Jay N. Y 1800. Declined. 

John Marshall Va 1801 to 1835. 

William Johnson S. C 1804 to 1834. 

Brockholst Livingston, N. Y 1807 to 1823. 

Thomas Todd Ky 1807 to 1826. 

I^vi Lincoln Mass 1811. Declined. 

John Quincy Adams .Mass 1811. Declined. 

Joseph Storj- Mass 1811 to 1845. 

Gabriel Duvall . Maryland 1811 to 1835. 

Smith Thompson K Y 1823 to 1843. 

Robert Trimble Ky 1826 to 1828. 

John McLean Ohio 1829 to 1861. 

Heniy Baldwin Pa 1830 to 1844. 

James M. Wayne Ga 1835 to 1867. 

Roger B. Taney Maryland 1836 to 1864. 

Philip P. Barbour Va 1836 to 1841. 

William Smith Ala 1837. Declined. 

John Catron Tenn 1837 to 1865. 

John McKinley Ala 1837 to 1852. 

Peter V. Daniel Va 1841 to 1860. 

Samuel Nelson JS. Y 1845 to 1872. 

Levi Woodbury N. H 1845 to 1851. 

Robert C. Grier Pa 1846 to 1870. 

Benjamin R. Curtis . .Maiss 1851 to 1857. 

John A. Campbell Ala 1853 to 1861. 

Nathan Clifford Maine 1858 to 1881. 

Noah H. Swayne Ohio 1862 to 1881. 

Samuel F. Miller Iowa 1862 to 1890. 

David Davis Ill 1862 to 1877. 

Stephen J. Field Cal 1863 to 1897. 

Salmon P. Chase Ohio 1864 to 1873. 

"Edwin M. Stanton . . Pa 1869. 

William Strong Pa 1870 to 1880. 

Joseph P. Bradley . . -N. J 1870 to 1892. 

Ward Hunt . . . ."^ N. Y 1872 to 1886. 

Morrison R. Waite Ohio 1874 to 1887. 

John M. Harlan Ky 1877 to . 

William B. Woods . . .Ga 1880 to 1887. 

Stanley Matthews Ohio 1881 to 1889. 

Horace Gray Mass 1881 to 1902. 

Samuel Blatchford . . .ISJ. Y 1882 to 1893. 

Lucius Q. C. Lamar . .Miss 1888 to 1893. 

Melville W. Fuller Ill 1888 to . 

David J. Brewer . . . Kan 1889 to . 

Henry B. Brown Mich. . 1891 to . 

George Shiras, Jr. . . . Pa 1892 to . 

Howell E. Jackson . . .Tenn 1893 to 1895. 

Edward D. White ... .La 1894 to . 

Joseph McKenna Cal. 1898 to . 

* Died before hLs commission tooli eflect. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 851 

CENSUS OF VIRGINIA— 1900. 

Total population of Virginia classified by color, age and literacy, 1900: 

White Population. 

Total white 1,192,855 

White males over twenty-one years 301,379 

White males under twenty-one years 300,617 

White females over twenty-one years 297,292 

White females under twenty-one years 293,567 

Total WJiue literate 1,094,695 

White illiterate 98,160 

Total white population over twenty-one years, 598,671 

Total white under twenty-one years 594,181 

Colored Population. 

Total colored 660,722 

Colored males over twenty-one years 146,122 

Colored males under twenty-one years 177,337 

Colored females over twenty-one years 155,306 

Colored females under twenty-one years .... 181,957 

Colored literate 446,886 

Colored illiterate 213,836 

Total colored over twenty-one years 301,428 

Total colored under twenty-one years 369,294 



CENSUS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY— 1790-1900. 

1700 5,625 1800 . 9,53(5 

1810 12,156 1820 12,444 

1830 15.614 1840 13,001 

1850 14,612 1860 16,892 

1870 16,816 ISSO 25,203 

1890 26,118 1900 28,995 

By Districts— 1890-1900. 1900. 1890, 

Abingdon district, including Abingdon town 5,569 5,506 

Abingdon town 1 ,306 1,674 

Glade Spring district, including Glade Spring town 3.490 3,316 

Glade Spring town 304 500 

Goodson district 4,846 7,456 

Holston district 3,593 2,485 

Kinderhook district 4,438 3,934 

>,orth Fork district '-^M^ 3,214 

Saltville district, including part of Saltville town 3,710 3,109 

Saltville town, part rf 173 



•852 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Population of Towns and Cities of Washington County — 1900. 

Ahingdon. 

1870 715 

1880 1,064 

1890 1,674 

1900 1,306 

Mendota. 
1880 112 

Glade Spring. 

1880 262 

1890 500 

1900 304 

Bristol, Virginia. 

1880 1,562 

1890 2,902 

1900 4,579 

Wallaces Sio-itch. 

1880 137 

1890 407 

Mendota, Wallaces Switch and Meadow View are all unincorporated, con- 
sequently the population of these places was not returned separately in 
1900. Meadow View does not appear in any of the census reports. 

Population of Several Towns and Counties in Southwest, Va. — 1900. 

Gladeville (or Wise) 511 Clinchport 183 

Norton 651 Duffield 98 

Tacoma 247 Abingdon 1,306 

Bond 295 Glade Spring 304 

Coeburn 295 Lebanon 335 

Big Stone Gap 1,617 Honaker 295 

East Stone Gap 349 Saltville 1,051 

Gate City 521 Marion 2,045 

We give in connection with the above the population of some of our South- 
western counties: 

Wise 19,653 Dickenson 7,747 

Lee 19,853 Russell 18,031 

Scott 22,694 Washington 28,995 

Buchanan 9,692 Tazewell 24,384 



Washington Countij, 1777-1S70. 

FINCASTLE COUNTY. 

Militia Officers, 1770-1777. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Wm. Christian. 
Lieutenant of Militia — Wm. Inglis, John Byrd. 
Lieutenant-Colonel — James Robertson, Wm. Christian, 
Major — Walter Crockett. 



853 



Daniel Trigg, 
Thomas Madison, 



Samuel Campbell, 



Captains. 

Joseph Cloyd, 
John Taylor. 

Lieutenants. 

William Inglis. 



WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

Militia Officers, 1777-1780. 

1777. County Lieutenant — Arthur Campbell. 

Colonel — Evan Shelby. 
Lieutenant-Colonel — Wm. Campbell. 
Major — Daniel Smith. 

1780. Colonel — Wm. Campbell. 
Lieutenant-Colonel — Daniel Smith. 
Major — Wm. Edmiston. 

1781. 1st Battalion: Colonel — Wm. Campbell. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Wm. Edmiston. 
Major — Aaron Lewis. 
2d Battalion: Colonel — Daniel Smith. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Joseph Martin. 
Major — Thomas Mastin. 

1782. 1st Battalion: Colonel — Wm. Edmiston. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Aaron Lewis. 
Major — James Dysart. 



Adams, George. 
Anderson, John. 
Buchanan, Robert, Sr. 
Bowen, Wm. 
Bowen, Arthur. 
Beattie, David. 
Barnes, Alexander. 



Captains. 
Black, Joseph. 
Barnett, Alexander. 
Buchanan, Samuel. 
Bowen,' Robert. 
Campbell, John (R. 0.) 
Christian, Gilbert. 
Campbell, John. 



Craig, Robert. 
Colvill, Andrew. 
Caldwell, Thos. 
Cock, Charles. 
Cole, Joseph. 
Crabtree, James. 
Cowan, Andrew. 



854 



Southwest Virginia, 1740-17S0. 



Cowan, William. 
Dunkin, John. 
Dysart, James. 
Davis, John. 
Deniston, Robert. 
Davis, Robert. 
Edmiston, Wm. 
Fulkerson, James. 
Frazier, John. 
Fulkerson, Richard. 
Head, Wm. 



Anderson, John. 
Allison, Chas. 
Buchanan, John. 
Beattie, David. 
Blackburn, Wm. 
Berry, John. 
Black, Joseph. 
Bishop, Levi. 
Buckner, Joshua. 
Blackmore, Wm. 
Boran, Bazil. 
Buchanan, Robert. 
Bartlett, Wm. 
Coulter, John. 
Campbell, Chas. 
Cowan, Wm. 
Crawford, Hugh. 
Campbell, Patrick. 
Campbell, Robert. 
Cole, Thomas. 
Cowan, Andrew. 
Davis, John. 



Bickley, Chas. 
Berry, Tliomas. 
Buchanan, Samuel. 
Beattie, John. 
Bamett, Alexander. 
Bowen, Arthur. 
Bowen, Rees. 
Blackmore, Wm. 
Campbell, Robert. 
Carpenter, John. 
Ciaiiipbell, Hugh. 



Jamison, John. 
Kincannon, Andrew. 
Kinkead, John. 
Keys, James. 
Lewis, Aaron. 
Lowry, John. 
Lyon, Humberson. 
Martin, Joseph. 
Montgomerj^, James. 
Mast in, Thoma.s. 
]\Iaxwell, George. 

Lieutenants. 

Davidson, Wm. 
Dickenson, Henry. 
Elliott, James. 
Edmiston, Robert. 
Freeland, George. 
Fulkerson, James. 
Frazer, John. 
Finley, George. 
Frazer, Daniel. 
Farris, Thomas. 
Hays, Samuel. 
Huston, James. 
Houston, John. 
Jamison, John. 
Kincannon, Andrew. 
Keys, James. 
Leeper, James. 
Looney, Moses. 
Lyon, Humberson. 
Lyon, William. 
McCulloch, Thomas. 
Maxwell, James. 

Ensigns. 
Crabtree, James. 
Casey, Wm. 
Campbell, Patrick. 
Crockett, Wm. 
Davidson, Daniel. 
Dryden, Nathaniel. 
Dorton, Wm. 
Doran, Alexander. 
Davis, Robert. 
Davis, John. 
Davidson, Wm. 



Xeal, Wm. 
Xewell, Samuel. 
Robertson, James. 
Ritchie, Alexander. 
Russell, William. 
Snoddy, John. 
Shelby, John, Sr. 
Shelby, James. 
Smith, Henry. 
Trimble, Robert. 
Willoughby, Wm. 



Maxwell, George. 
]\Iontgomery, Alexander.' 
Newell, Samuel. 
Neil, Wm. 
Price, Thomas. 
Pitman, Wm. 
Patterson, ^^'m. 
Perrin, Joseph. 
Rosebrough, Wm. 
Robinson, John. 
Rucker, Joshua. 
Roberts, James. 
Renen, James. 
Snoddy, John. 
Scott, William. 
Scott, Archiliald. 
Scott, Joseph. 
Topp, Roger. 
Thompson, Wm. 
Ward, David. 
Wylie, Alexander. 
Willoughby, Wm. 



Dickenson, Henry. 
Edmiston, Robert. 
Elliott, James. 
Goff, Andrew. 
Greer, Wm. 
Gibson, George. 
Henegar, Jacob. 
Houston, James. 
Henegar, John. 
Kennedy, John. 
Kincannon, ilatthew. 



Washington County, 1177-1870. 



855 



Lowiy, John. 
Leeper, James. 
Lewis, John. 
Looney, John. 
Litton, Solomon. 
McCutcheon, John. 
MeCutcheon, \Ym. 
McCutcheon. Samuel. 
McClelhmd. Abraham. 
McFerrin,, John. 



McFarland,, Robert. 
Main, Tobias. 
Neil, Wm. 
Newland, Isaac. 
Roberts, James. 
Russell, Robert. 
Rhea, Joseph. 
Rosebrough, \Yra. 
Ritchie, Alexander. 



Ramsey, Josiah. 
vShaw, John. 
Steele, John. 
Smith, Henry. 
Teeter, George. 
Vanhook, Samuel. 
Vance, James. 
Whitten, Thomas. 
Young, Wm. 



WASHINGTON COUNTY'. 

Revoll'tioivary Soldiers, 1776-1783. ■ 

Allen, Moses. 

Alexander, \\ illiam. King's Mountain. 
Alexander, Jeremiah, King'is Mountain. 
Alexander, Oliver, King's Mountain. 
Anderson, William, King's Mountain. 
Anderson, Jacob, King's Mountain. 
Anderson, John, King's Mountain. 

Buckner, William, Virginia Line. 

Burke, John, First Maryland Regiment and Ninth Virginia Regiment. 
Barker, Edmund, King's Mountain, Virginia Continental. 
Barker, Enoch, King's Mountain. 
Barker, Charles, King's ]\Iountain. 
Barker, Joel, King's Mountain. 
Barker, Edward, King's Mountain. 
Barker, Henry, King's Mountain. 
Blackburn, Arthur, King's ^lountain. 
Blackburn, John, King's Mountain. 
Blackburn, Joseph, King's Mountain. 
Blackmore, John, King's Mountain. 

Blackburn, William, King's Mountain. Killed. Lieutenant. 
Bowen, .John, King's Mountain. Son of Rees Bowen. 
Bowen, William, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Bowen, Robert, King's Mountain. 
Bowen, Henry, King's Mountain. 
Bowen, Charles, King's Mountain. 

Bowen, Rees, King's Mountain. Killed. Lieutenant. Commanded a com- 
pany. 

Bowen, Arthur, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Browning, Enas, King's Mountain. 
Brown, Michael, King's Mountain. 
Boran, Bazil, King's Mountain. 



856 Souiliwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Brush, Enoch. 

Bishop, Levi, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Brown, Low. 

Boiling, Jarrett. 

Brooks, William. 

Beard, Richard, First Virginia Regiment. Captain Campbell's Company. 

Berry, James, King's Mountain. 

Beriy, Thomas. Wounded by Indians September 4th, 1776. 

Berry, Bradley. Died in service, Fourth Virginia Regiment. Yellow 
Spring, Pa. 

Blackraore, William, King's Mountain. Ensign, 

Burney, William, King's Mountain. 

Beattie, John, King's Mountain. Ensign. Killed. 

Beattie, David, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Beattie, Francis, King's Mountain. 

Beattie, William, King's Mountain. 

Bickley, Charles, King's Mountain. 

Benning, Benoni, King's Mountain. Wounded three times. 

Bullen, William, King's Mountain. 

Beane, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Buchanan, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Buchanan, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Breckenridge, Alex., King's Mountain. Captain Continental Line, Rus- 
sell's Regiment. 

Breckenridge, George, King's Mountain. Twelve years old. 

Breckenridge, John, King's Mountain. 

Black, Joseph, King's Mountain. 

Barnes, Alexander, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Bartlett, William, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Barnett, Alexander, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Buchanan, John. Captain Continental Line. Killed 1777. 

Bowman, Esaius, King's Mountain. 

Craig, Robert, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Craig, Robert, Jr., King's Mountain. 

Carson, David, King's Mountain. 

Craig, James, King's Mountain. 

Clark, George, King's Mountain. 

Corry, James, King's Mountain. Killed. 

Colley, Thomas, King's Mountain. 

Campbell, David, King's Mountain. 

Cock, James, King's Mountain. 

Cock, Charles, King's Mountain. 

Campbell, William, Jr., King's Mountain. ' 

Campbell, William, King's Mountain. Colonel. 

Crow, James, King's Mountain. 

Carpenter, John, King's Mountain. 



Washington Count i/, 1717-1870. 857 

Craig, John, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Craig, David, King's Mountain. 

Cusick, John, King's Mountain. \^'ounded Whitsill's Mill. 
Colvill, Andrew, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Colvill, Samuel, King's Mountain. Wounded. Died, November 20, 1780. 
Campbell, Robert, King's Mountain. Wounded Long Island. Ensign. 
Campbell, Hugh, King's Mountain. 
Campbell, Patrick, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 
Cowan, Andrew^, King's Mountain. 
Cowan, William, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 
Curry, James, King's Mountain. 
Cook, Henry, Second Virginia Regiment. 
Conn, W. Y., North Carolina Militia. 
Cline, Andrew, Virginia Militia. 
Crunk, William, King's Mountain. 
Cole, Hugh. Died in Continental service. 
Crawford, John R. 
Carmack, William. 

Cock, William. Captain battle Long Island Flats. 
Carson, John. 
Colvitt, Joseph (S, C). 
Carswell, Andrew, King's Mountain. 
Cole, William. 

Cole, Thomas, King's Mountain, 
Cole, Joseph, King's Mountain. 
Cunningham, William. 
Cunningham, Jonathan. 
Cuddy, John. 
Cuddy, James. 

Campbell, John. Commander of Indian Spick, 1790-1794. 
Campbell, John, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Crabtree, James, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Crabtree, Jacob. 

Cope, John, King's Mountain. Continental Army. Substitute for Mathia*. 
Harman. 

Caldwell, Thomas, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Casey, William. 

Crockett, William. 

Crock, William. Ensign. King's Mountain. 

Davison, Daniel, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Davison, William, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Davenport, Claiborne, Seventh and Fifth Virginia Regiments. 

Doran, Alexander, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Doran, Terance, Ninth and First Virginia Regiments. 

Doran, James, King's Mountain. 

Dunkin, John. Prisoner in Canada. 



858 Southwest Virginia , 17Jf6-17S6. 

Dryden, Nathaniel, King's Mountain. Killed. Ensign. 

Dufl', Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Diyden, William, King's Mountain. 

Dryden, James, King's Mountain. 

Dolberry, Lytton. 

Dysart, James, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Dickerson, Henry, King's ]\Iountain. Private Captain Colvill's Company. 

Dennison, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Dorton, William, Jr., King's Mountain. 

Davis, John, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Davis, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Dorton, Moses, King's Mountain. Horse killed Whitsill's Mill. 

Douglas, Jonathan, King's Mountain. Wounded accidentally. 

Darnel, David, King's Mountain. Wounded. 

Duck, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Davis, Nathaniel, King's Mountain. 

Davis, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Douglas, James, King's Mountain. 

Dunn, Samuel, Continental Line at Yorktown. 

Edmiston, William, King's Mountain. Killed. Captain. 

*Edmiston, Robert, Jr., King's Mountain. Killed. Lieutenant. 

Edmiston, Andrew, King's Mountain. Killed. Captain. 

Estill, Benjamin, King's Mountain. 

Eakin, William. 

Evans, David, Virginia Line, April 19, 1780. 

Evans, Evan, King's Mountain, Guilford Courthouse. 

Ely, William, King's Mountain. 

Evans, Andrew, King's Mountain. 

Evans, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Edmiston, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Edmiston, John, King's Mountain. 

England, John, Virginia Continental. 

Elder, Robert. 

Edmiston, Thomas, King's Mountain. 

Edmiston, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Edmiston, William, King's Mountain. Major. 

Elliott, James. Captain. Killed in service, 1780. 

Finley, John. Wounded Long Island Flats. 
Fleenor, Michael, Virginia Militia. 
Fleenor, Joel, King's Mountain. 
Fleenor, Charles, King's Mountain. 
Fulkerson, James, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Fulkerson, Richard, King's Movmtain. 
Fisher, Frederick, King's Mountain. Wounded. 



*Shot by British guard before the action began. 



Washingion County. 1777-1870. 859 

Fowler, William, King's Mountain. Killed. 

Fowler, James, King's Mountain. Noted scout Continental service under 
Colonel William Rus&el, Fort Blair. 
Fields, William, Virginia Militia. 
Frazer, Daniel, King's Mountain. 
Frazer, John, King's ^Mountain. 
Faris, Thomas, King's Mountain. 
Francis, Thomas, King's Mountain. 
Freeman, William, Virginia Line. 
Fletcher, Thomas, King's Mountain. 
Finley, George, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 
Fork, William, King's Mountain. 

G«rvis, .James, Ninth Virginia Regiment. 

Gist, Thomas, King's Moiuitain. 

Gilbert, Samuel. 

Gray, Alexander. 

Galliher, Joel, King's Mountain. Horse killed in fight. 

Gillespie, I'homas, King's Mountain. 

Gist, Nathaniel, King's Mountain. Killed. 

Given, James, King's Mountain. 

Gist, Richard, King's Mountain. 

Gibson, John, King's Mountain. 

Gibson, George, King's Mountain. 

Gibson, Thomas, King's Moiuitain. ^ 

Graham, James, King's Mountain. 

Grimes, James, King's Mountain. 

Gobble, Christian, Maryland Militia. 

Gilliland, James, Virginia Militia, King's Moimtain. 

Greer, William, King's Alountain. 

Grier, John, King's ^Mountain. 

GofF, William, King's Mountain. 

Goft, Andrew, King's Mountain. Enisign. 

Harrell, Reuben, King's ^lountain. 

Henegar, Henry, King's jNIountain. Killed. 

Henegar, Jacob, King's iloiuitain. Ensign. 

Henegar, John, King's Mountain. 

Hyce, Leonard, King's Mountain. Wounded. 

Hayter, Israel, King's Mountain. Wounded. 

Hobbs, Thomas, King's Mountain and Cherokee Expedition. Wounded. 

Hamilton, RobeW, King's Mountain. 

Hemphill, Charles, King's ^lountain. 

Higganbottom, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Hall, Jesrse, King's Mountain. 

Howard, William, King's Mountain. 

Hinds, William, Second Regiment Artillery. 



860 Southwest Virginia,, 1746-17S0. 

Hunsuoker, Abraham, North Carolina Militia. 

Humphreys, Robert, Virginia State Line. 

Henderson, John, King's Mountain. 

Heliot, Solomon, Second Virginia Regiment. 

Houston, William, King's Mountain. 

Houston, John, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Henry, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Hortenstine, Abraham, King's Mountain. 

Himt, Zacariah. 

Harris, Nathaniel. 

Hilliard, James. 

Hughes, Peter. 

Hillan, James, North Carolina Line, King's Mountain. 

Hobbs, Ezekiel. 

Hamilton, Alexander. 

Hughes, Samuel. 

Hamilton, John, Virginia Continental. 

Hampton, John. 

Hundley, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Hughes, John. 

Hamonds, Abraham. 

Hensley, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Harkleroad, Henry, King's Mountain. 

Hays, Samuel. King's Mountain. 

Houston, James, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Johnston, Samuel, King's Mountain. Virginia State troops. 
Jamison, John, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 
Jenkins, Tliomas, King's Mountain. 
Jenkins, \Yilliam, King's Mountain. 
Johnston, Peter, Lee's Legion. 

Keeps, James, Sergeant, King's ^Mountain. 

Kilgore, Charles, King's Mountain. 

Keys, James, King's Mountain. Virginia Militia. Lieutenant. 

Kincannon, Andrew, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Kincannon, James, King's Mountain. 

Kincannon, ]\Iatthew, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Kendrick, Solomon, Kings Mountain. 

Kelly, John. 

Kennedy, Moses, Virginia Line, April 19. 1780. 

Kennedy, Robert. Officer Troop of Horse. 

Kennedy, John, King's Mountain. 

Kerr, Adam, King's Mountain. 

Kinkead, John, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Leonard, Robert, Second Virginia Regiment. 



Washington Counfij, 1777-1S70. 861 

Leonard, Henry, Second Virginia Regiment. 

Lewis, Aaron, King's Mountain. 

Lusk, William, King's Mountain. 

Low, Henry, Fifth Maniand Regiment, 1776 and war 1812-'14. 

Litton, Solomon. Prisoner in Canada. Second Lieutenant. 

Litton, John. King's Mountain. 

Leckie, William, Virginia Militia. 

Logan, James, King's Mountain. 

Laird, John, King's Mountain. Color Sergeant. Killed. 

Laird, James, King's Mountain. Killed. 

Laird, David, King's Mountain. 

Leonard, G-eorge, King's ^Mountain. 

Lynn, Adam, King's Mountain. 

Lindsay, John. 

Lyon, Humberson, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. Killed. 

Leonard, Frederick, King's Mountain. 

Lawson, William, King's Mountain. 

Lewis, John, King's Mountain. 

Loyd, John. King's Mountain and Virginia Militia. 

Lowry, William, King's Mountain. 

Long, W illiam. King's Mountain. 

Lowry, John. King's Mountain. Second Lieutenant. 

Latham, John, King's Moimtain. 

Leeper, James, King's Mountain. Second Lieutenant. 

Looney, Moses, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Looney, John, King's Mountain. 

Lyon, William. King's Mountain. 

Looney, Robert, King's ]\Iountain. Ensign. 

Livingston, David, King's Mountain. 

Moore, Arthur. 

Main, Tobias, King's Moimtain. Ensign. 
Maxwell, Nathaniel, Pennsylvania Militia. 
Moss, Matthew. 
McKinley. John. 

McCulloch, Tliomas, King's Mountain. Killed. Lieutenant. Commanded 
part of a company. 
McCulloch, Robert, King's Mountain. Wovmded. 
Montgomery, Richard, King's Mountain. Virginia Militia. 
Montgomery, Robert, King's Mountain. 
McLain, Thomas. 
Morgan, Robert. 
Murdock, John, Virginia Line. 
McCauley, John, Virginia Line. 
McGhee, Thomas. 
Mills, Francis. Virginia Line. 
Marion, Samuel. 



862 Southivest Virginia, 1746-17S6. 

Morgan, Thomas. Disabled in service, May 20, 1776. 
McNutt, Ale.xander, King's Mountain. 
Musiser, John. 
McGochlin, John. 
Mobley, Francis. 
Miller, John. 

McCulloch, John, Kings Mountain. Virginia Militia. 
McConnell, Abram, King's Mountain. 
McCTlochlin, Charles. 

Moore, William, King's Mountain. Lost right leg; wounded left arm. 
Maxwell, Thomas, King's Mountain. 

McCroskey, John, King's Mountain. Private Captain William Beatie's 
Company. 

Martin, William, King's Mountain. 

Me]Millen, Alexander, King's Mountain, Whitsell's Mill. 

McClelland, Abraham, King's Mountain. 

McFerrin, John, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Montgomeiy, Alexander, King's Mountain. Saddle lost in fight. 

McDonald, Magnus, King's IMountain. Xorth Carolina Militia. 

McMillen, William, King's Mountain. 

McHenry, John, King's Mountain. 

McCutcheon, William, King's Mountain. 

McFarland, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Maxwell, George, King's ilountain. Captain. 

Maxwell, James, King's Mountain. 

McCutcheon, John, King's Mountain. 

McCutcheon, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Neely, Robert. 

Newell, Samuel, Sr., King's ]Mountain. 

Newell, Samuel, King's Mountain. Second Lieutenant. 

Neil, William, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Newland, Isaac. Ensign. 

Oney, Joseph. 

Outlaw, Alexander, King's Mountain. 

Owens, Robert, King's Mountain. 

Pirtle, George, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Pitman, William, King's Mountain. 

Perrin, Joseph, King's Mountain. 

Preston, Robert. Excused by Colonel Campbell at Watauga.* 

Phillips, James, King's Mountain. Killed. Ensign. 

Preston, Walter, King's Mountain. 

Purvianee, William, King's Mountain. 

Piper, James, King's Mountain. 



• But three days married at the time, and he was excused by Colouel Campbell, 
witbout Preston s knowledge. 



Washington Count)j, 1777-1S70. 863 

Pippin, Robert, King's ilountain. Virginia Militia. 

Periy, Solomon. King's Mountain. 

Pitts, Lewis, King's Mountain. 

Price, James, King's Mountain. 

Price, Thomas, King's Mountain. 

Phillips, Samuel, King's Mountain. Carried message from Ferguson to 
Shelby. 

Patterson, William, King's Mountain. 
^ Poston, Richard, King's Mountain. 

Pepper, Elisha, King's Mountain. Killed. 

Rust, John, Virginia Militia. 

Ross, Valentine. Captain Henry Hill's Virginia Infantry. 

Riley, Daniel, Virginia Line, Colonel Russell's Regiment. 

Roberts, David. 

Roy, Benjamin. 

Ramsey, Josiah. 

Reamy, Daniel, King's Mountain. 

Rose, James. 

Russell, \Yilliam, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Ritchie, Alexander, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Ritchie, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Rhea, Joseph, King's Mountain. 

Russell, Robert, King'iS Mountain. 

Roberts, James, King's Mountain. 

Riley, David. Continental Line, Colonel William Russell's Regiment. 

Reazer, Peter, King's Mountain. 

Roberson, William, King's Mountain. 

Robinson, John, King's Mountain. Second Lieutenant. 

Rosebrough, William, King's Mountain. Captain. 

Scott, John, Captain Rowland Madison's Company. Died in service. 

Stein, Leonard. Died in service, 1778. 

Statzer, Martin. Died in service. 

Scott, Joseph, Sr., King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Scott, Joseph, King's Mountain. 

Shaver, Michael. Killed Camden, S. C. 

Spiars, John. 

Smith, Francis, Virginia Continental Line. Lieutenant. 

Sharp, Ricliard E., King's Moimtain. 

Sharp, Thomas, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Shaffer, John. 

Smith, Edward. 

Stewart, William, King's Mountain. 

Smith, John. 

Smith, .James, King's Mountain. 

Sloan, William. 



864 Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 

Smith, Daniel. Lieutenant-Colonel. 
Sawyers, John. Ensign. 
Sword, Michael. 

Sykes, John, Virginia Continental. 
Skaggs, John, King's Mountain. Wounded. 
Stovall, Bartholomew, King's Mountain. 
Scott, Alexander, King's Mountain. 
Scott, William, King's Mountain. 
Snodgrass, William, King's Mountain. 
Smith, Henry, King's Mountain. 
Stevenson, John, King's Mountain. 
Self, Thomas, King's Mountain. 
Scott, Walter, King's Mountain. 
Scott, Thomas, King's Mountain. 

Sharp, Benjamin, King's ■Mountain, Guilford Courthouse. 
Sharp, William, King's Mountain. 
Snodgrass, James, King's Mountain. 
Smith, William, King's Mountain. 
Scott, Samuel, King's Mountain. 
Scott, Archibald, King's Mountain. 
Scott, Robert, King's Mountain. 
Smith, Jonas, Virginia Militia. 
Stuart, John. Wounded Point Pleasant. 
j/ Snoddy, John, King's Mountain. 
Shaw, John. 

Steele, John, King's Mountain. Eibsign. 
Shote, Thomas, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Tate, John, King's Movmtain. 
Thomas, David. 
Thacker, Reuben. 

Talbert, Charles, King's Mountain. 
"^Thoinpson, William, King's Mountain. 

Thompson, James, King's Mountain. Captain. 
Trimble, Robert, King's Mountain. 
Treadway, William, Cherokee Expedition, 1780. 
Topp, Roger, King's Mountain. 
Teeter, George, King's Moiuitain. 

Vance, James, King's Mountain. Ettsign. 

Vance, Samuel, King's Mountain. 

Vance, John, King's Mountain. 

Vanhook, Samuel, King's Mountain. Ensign. 

Vermillion, Jesse. 

Vineyard, George. At Yorktown. 

Woodward, Jacob, Virginia Line. 
Walker, Wm. 
Wilson, John. 



Vj 



Washington County^ 1777-1S70. 865 

iWidener, Michael, Virginia Militia, Continental Line. 

Witten, Thomas, Sr. 

Welsh, Robert, Colonel Richard Parker's Regiment. 

Watson, David, King's Mountain. 

Woolsey, Thomas, King's Mountain. 

Ward, David, King's Mountain. 

White, Benjamin, King's Mountain. 

Wynn, William, King's Mountain. 

Willoughby, William, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. Killed.- 

Wil lough by, Matthew, King's Mountain. 

Whitten, Solomon, King's Mountain. 

Wiley, Alexander, King's Mountain. Lieutenant. 

Yontz, George, King's Mountain. • 

Yeary, Henry, King's Mountain. 
Young, William, King's Mountain. 
Y'^oung, James, King's Mountain. 



NUMBER OF TROOPS FURNLSHED BY THE STATES DURING THE 
REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

Continental Armies. Militia. Total. 

New Hampshire 12,497. 4,000. 16,497. 

Massachusetts 67,907. 20,000. 87,907. 

Rhode Island 5,908. 4,000. 9,908. 

Connecticut 31,939. 9,000. 40,939. 

New York 17,781. 10,000. 27,781. 

New Jersey 10,726. 7.000. 17,726. 

Pennsylvania 25,678. 10.000. 35,678. 

Delaware 2,386. 1,000. 3,386. 

Maryland 13,912. 9,000. 22,912. 

Virginia 26,678. 30,000. 56,678. 

North Carolina 7,263. 13,000. 20,263. 

South Carolina 6,417. 20,000. 26,417. 

Georgia 2,679. 8,000. 10,679. 



231,771. 145,000. 376,771. 



WASHINGTON COUNT Y. 

Officers in the Militia, 1812-1815. 
Colonel I05th Regiment. 
Preston, John. 
Captaitis. 
Miller, Joseph. Fulkerson, Abram. Dryden, Nathaniel. 

Gray, William. Gibson, John. Hickman, Michael, 

fijcott, James. Bradley, Reuben. Ireson, William. 

Smith, William. 



86G 



Southtcest Virginia, 111^6-1786. 



Scott, James. 
Fulkerson, John. 
Davaiilt, John. 
McGinnis, Samuel. 
Gray, John. 
Talbott, James. 
Beattie, James. 
Patterson, Andrew. 



Robinson, Alex., Jr. 
Halkett, John. 
Hickman, George. 
Shaver, Thomas. 
Henderson, John. 
Beattie, Armstrong. 
Hill, Moses. 
Crabtree, James. 



Lieutoianls. 
Fleenor, Adam. 
Mayo, Peter. 
Crawford, Jno. 
Shell, Lewis. 
Wolf, Jonas. 
Trigg, Jos. C. 
Scott, Charles. 
Clark, Job. 
Campbell, David. 

Ensigns. 
Allen, James. 
Edmond, Henry. 
McConnell, Thomas. 
Smith, John. 
Bradshaw, Joseph. 
Edmiston, Jos., .Jr. 
Ha If acre. Michael. 
Lang'ford, Jonathan. 



McConnell, Thomas. 
Parrott, Henry. 
Shoer, Jacob. 
Jordan, Moses. 
Goodson, Samuel E. 
Laughlin, Nath. W. 
ilcConnell, Wm. 
McQuown, Thos. 



Currin, Waddy T. 
Laughlin, N". M. 
Campbell, James, Jr. 
Buchanan, John. 
Carmack, Joseph. 
Craig, Robert P. 
Nordyke, Abram. 



Cornets. 
Clark, John. Willoughby, Andrew, 

Colonels 70th Regiment. 
Francis Preston (promoted Brigadier-General), Tate, Chas. 

Major. 
Byar.s, Wm. 



Ganaway, Robert. 
Harlev, James. 



Bowen, Arthur, Jr. 
Ganaway, Edmond. 
Edmiston, Wm. 
Main, Timothy. 
Henderson, Andrew. 



Thomas, Jos. 
Eylie, Chas. 
Hathorn, Robert. 



Beattie, David. 



Captains. 
Trigg, Jos. C. 
Orr, James. 
Apperson, Wm. 

Lieutenants. 
!Meek, James, Jr. 
Ireson, Wm. 
McConnell, ^Vm. 
McClellan, Samuel. 
Loehr, Jacob. 

Ensigns. 
Rouse, Rufus. 
Talbert, Chas. 
Beattie, Samuel. 
Edmiston, Samuel. 

Cornets. 
McQuown, Tlioma^s. 



Beattie, Robert. 
Houston, William. 



Crabtree, James. 
Beattie, James. 
Clark, John. 
Tate, Wm. C. 
Apperson, John. 



Trigg, Joseph. 
McCarty, Benj. 
McCulloch, Thos. 



Smith, Tobias. 




Thos. W. Colley, Confederate Soldier. Coiifederate Battle Fla< 
Confederate Uniform. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 867 

WASHINGTON COUNTY CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS, 18G1-1S65. 

WASHINGTON MOUNTED RIFLES. 

Company "L," Afterwards Company "D," First Regiment, 
Virginia Volunteer Cavalry. 



Officers. 

William E. .Jones, captain (aftei-wards brigadier-general). 

W. W. lilackford, first lieutenant (afterwards captain). 

Kees B. Edniondson, second lieutenant. 

G. V. Litchtield, Jr., third lieutenant. 

James King, orderly sergeant. 

C T. Litchfield, first sergeant. 

Thomas ti. Edniondson, second sergeant. 

James M. Byans, third sergeant. 

James K. Rambo, first corporal. 

John A. P. Baker, second corporal. 

Jacob L. Fields, second corporal. Apjiointed June, 1861. 

Gilbert C. Greenway, third corporal. 

W. M. Hopkins, color sergeant (colonel 25th Virginia Cavalry). 



Officers at Reorganization, 1862. 
C. T. Litchfield, captain. 
Rees B. Edmoncison, first lieutenant. 
G. V. Litchfield, second lieutenant. 
T. B. Edniondson, third lieutenant. 
P. C. Landrum, orderly sergeant. 
M. M. S. Irason, first sergeant. 
M. M. Pendleton, second sergeant. 
P. C. Miles, third sergeant. Killed 1863. 

C. H. Dulaney, fourth sergeant. Killed. 

D. A. Fields, first corporal. 

Thomas \\'. Colley, second corporal. Appointed May 23, 1864. 

C. M. Waldron, third corporal. 

B. Gildersleeve, ordinance sergeant for 1st Regiment Virginia Cavalry. 

8. J. McChesney, ordinance sergeant for 1st Regiment Virginia Cavalry. 



Privates. 

Byars, .James M. Bailey, Thomas W. Buchanan, Randolph. 

Beatie, R. F. Bailey, Oscar S. Barker, W. D. (trans- 

Beatie, Fountain (trans- Bailey, J. A., Jr. ferred to 63d Va. Inf.; 

ferred to Mosby's Com- Baker, Joe H. made ordinance ser- 

mand). Baker, J. A. P. geant). 

Beattie, Walter D. Butt, J. W. Barr, David. 



868 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



Buskell, Alexander. 

Buskell, Richard (trans- 
ferred Stuart's Horse 
Artillery). 

Catron, A. P. R. 

Clark, M. R. 

Clark, W. F. P. . 

Cole, Thomas V. 

Cole, D. C. 

Cassell, Rufus R. 

Colley, Tliomas W. 

Colley, L. T. 

Crawford, Ben C. 

Crawford, Thomas C. 

Cook, Frank J. 

Cato, J. L. 

Davis, John G. R. 

Dunn, Wm. L. Doctor. 

Dulaney, Charles H. 

Deyerle, J. B. 

Edmondson, M. V. 

Euk, Frank J. ( Frenchman 
Capt. Jones brought 
him from France with 
other French and Ger- 
mans to work vine- 
yards. ) 

Edmondson, T. B. 

Findlay, Frank S. 

Fields, C. R. 

j^ields, J. L. 

Findlay, T. K. 

Fulkerson, Frank R., Rog- 
ersville, Tenn. 

Gildersleeve, B., Jr. 

Gray, F. T., captain 2lst 
Cavalry, 1863. 



Gray, R. E. 

Gray, D. C. 

Gollihon, J. A. 

Gammon, Melvin. 

Hockett, John. 

Hockett, William. 

Hubble, Thos., Smyth Co. 

Ireson, M. M. S. 

Jones, Jasper (transferred 
to Mosby's Command ) . 

Jones, Henry S. 

Johnson, W. M. 

Kelly, S. F. 

Larimore, John. 

Lynch, D. C. 

Loggin, John. 

Litchfield, C. T. 

Logging, J. H. 

Meek, S. D. 

Montgomery, Wm. F. 

Morrell, William W. 

Morrell, David H. 

Morrell, Charles. 

McNew, Leander. 

McNew, Tobias. 

McReynolds, J. M. 

McReynolds, Wm. (trans- 
ferred from 4th Texas 
1861). 

McChesney, S. J. 

MaHaffey, Wm. A. (trans- 
ferred to Horse Artil- 
lery 1861). 

Mosby, John S. (after- 
wards colonel Independ- 
ent Rangers ) . 

Moore, David. 

Miles, P. C. (killed at 



Spotsylvania C. H. ) . 

Ornduff, John. 

Orr, M. C. ( discharged for 
deafness ) . 

Page, R. M. 

Pendleton, M. M. 

Price, Wm. H. (doctor). 

Roberts, John M. 

Rambo, James K. 

Rambo, A. F. 

Riddle, James W. 

Rush, Jerry C. 

Russell, John, Rogersville, 
Tenn. 

Robertson, Frank S. (af- 
terwards Lieut. 48th Va. 
Inf.). 

Rodefer, J. Alex, (trans- 
ferred to 45th Va. Regi- 
ment ) . 

Sanders, Robert J. (dis- 
charged 1863). 

Sanders, J. W. S. (trans- 
ferred to Mosby's Com' 
mand) . 

Sandoe, David P. 

Scott, William E. 

Smith, William Buck. 

Smith, Thomas (trans 
f erred to 45th Va. Regi- 
ment ) . 

Smith, William. 

Snodgrasis, William L. 

Shepherd, Thomas J. 

Vaughan, William W. 

White, William B. 

Williams, Rufus C. 



Members who volunteered in the Washington Mounted Rifles, and who 
did not go out with the company — joined other commands. 

Dickerson, J. W. P. Skinner, Daniel. Hunt, Stephen. 

MaHaffey, F. C. Bittle, Robert L. • Clark, Thomas W. (dis- 

Grant, J. T. Johnson, William M. ability). Sleepy Tom. 

Cato, J. L. Dorsey, Elias. Wright, T. D. 
Bowser, J. B. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



8G9 



Recruits Which Came to the Company from 1862 to 1865. 



Arnett, James A. 

Asberry, Mansfield. 

Asberiy, William. 

Asberry, L. D. 

Allison, Abram. 

Bearden, William. 

Bailey, Walter. 

Bailey, William. 

Butt, Henry C. 

Buchanan, William. 

Bradley, James H. 

Black, William D. (dis- 
charged 1862). 

Black, Samuel D. 

Byars, A. H. (Old Dad). 

Bryant, John W. 

Campbell, John. 

Carmack, D. C. 

Catron, Frank M. 

Clark, James H. 

Clark, William D. 

Clark, I. L. 

Clapp, T. M. 

Crockett, A. M., Lee Co. 

Cosby, L. T., 1862. 

Colley, William L. 

Cosby, John D. 

Cubine, William. 

Davis, John M. 

Davidson, Tliomas. 

DeBusk. David. 

DeBusk, Samuel. 
! Duff, T. B. 
I Duflf, J. M. 

Edmondson. John B. 

Edmondson. Strong. 

French, J. L. M. 

Greenway, W. T. 

Gray, Charles P. 

Gray, James. 

Grant, Robert. 

Hall, William A. 

I Hall, John D. 



Harris, A. Findlay. 

Hockett, Samuel. 

Hickman, R. M. 

Hewlett, Geo., Amherst 
county. 

Horn, Basal. 

Jones, Robert M. 

Jones, David (transferred 
to Mosby's Command 
and captured by Union 
men and hung with six 
comrades by order Gen. 
Custer, near Fr't Roy'l, 
in 1864.) 

Keesling, M. G., Wythe 
county. 

Keesling, Emory, Wythe 
county. 

Keesling, John, Wythe 
county. 

Keller, Robert J. 

King, H. G., Wythe Co. 

Latham, M. H. 

Latham, L. W. 

Ligon, Ben. D. 

Lowr3% David (color- bearer 
at Appomattox; remov- 
ed flag from staff, con- 
cealed and brought it 
home with him ) . 

Lewark, D. K. H. 

Littleford, John. 

Littleford, Willis. 
.Meek, James R. 

Montgomery, Lilburn. 

Morrison, J. L. 

McNew, George. 

McChesney, Wallace. 

Meadows, M. T. 

McConnell, Thomas. 

Munday, M. J., Madison 
county. 

Murray, J. H. 



McCall, Samuel, Wythe 
county. 

Mead, Wm. (From near 
Georgetown, D. C. Ran 
off from his mother and 
joined our company. 
Capt. Jones became very 
much attached to him. 
He was only 13 years 
old. Gen. Jones took 
him to the Valley of Va. 
with him. He was killed 
in 1863.) 

Page, J. H. 

Page, John W. 

Page, Robert. 

Painter, William. 

Pendleton, H. G., Wythe 
county. 

Preston, R. B. 

Pendleton, Joseph. 

Preston, Thomas. 

Roe, Edward. 

Roe, S. E. 

Ritchie, James L. 

Rosenbalm, A. D. 

Roe, William. 

Rybum, David. 

Roe, Newton. 

Richards, John B. 

Saunders, S. D. 

Swartz, J. J. 

Smith, John L. 

Strother, W. Trigg. 

Trigg, C. F. 

Trigg, Thomas K. 

White, Dr. William. 

White, John G. 

Webb, A. H. 

Wright, F. D. 

Waldron, C. M. 

Wampler, E. W., Wythe 
county.* 



♦Furnished by Thomas W. Colley. 



870 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jf6-17S6. 
GooDSON Rifle Guards. 



Officers. 



John F. i'eiry, captain. 
John T. Megginson, first lieutenant. 
Alexander Lazenby, second lieutenant. 
William L. Rice, third lieutenant. 
William G. Lindsey, first sergeant. 
E. S. Johnston, second sergeant. 
Charles W. Taylor, third sergeant. 
Heniy Guggenheimer, fourth sergeant. 
John C. Garner, first corporal. 
John M. C. Eakin, second corporal. 
John M. Buchanan, third corporal. 
George A. Feathers, fourth corporal. 



t'rivutcs. 



Appling, James A. 
Alvis, Samuel W. 
Bailey, D. F. 
Butler, M. M. 
Blancett, Harden L. 
Brown, William H. 
Bibb, Samuel F. 
Burlingame, Miles. 
Betterton, Robert F. 
Betterton, James T. 
Buck, Charles C. 
Beasley, Robert. 
Barker, John H. 
Carson, Thomas J. 
Campbell, Andrew J. 
Crabtree, James B. 
Coleman, Lewis L. 
Crumley, Stephenson M. 
Cooley, George A. 
Foalden, James A. 
Foster, Ben. 
Ferguson, William R. 
Foster, Shadrach. 



Grubb, Heniy. 
Green, Benjamin H. 
Girtman, William. 
German, John A. 
Hughes, John W. 
Hamilton, James M. 
Johnson, Lucian A. 
Jones, Elbert S. 
Jamison, John L. 
Kerin, Joseph R. 
Kelly, Joseph W. 
*Lancaster, William H. 
Luttrell, Bryan. 
Lester, Noah L. 
MeCrosky, John J. 
Maxey, Corland P. 
Morgan, James W. 
Nickels, Isaac A. 
Owen, Joseph W. 
Pile, George C. 
Pepper, George P. 
Preston, William S. 
Preston, Samuel F. 



Paff, John C. 
Quails, William R. 
Ruli", Benjamin H. 
Rhea, Joseph A. 
Rhea, Robert. 
Rhea, Edwin R. 
Rosenheim, Segman. 
Short, A. D. L. 
Sharrett, John R. 
Stokes, John R. 
Speiss, Philip G. 
Salsburg, Samuel S. 
Slade, Charles. 
Taylor, Adam. 
Thomas, James P. 
Thomas, James M. 
Thomas, Charles P. 
Tyler. William C. 
Tranbarger, DaA-id. 
Wilson, Tlioraas H. 
White, Preston A. 
W^aldron, William R. 
Weddle, Asa L. 



♦Roster at the date of organization of company in 1861. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



871 



"MOUNTAIN BOYS." 
Company "B," Tiiirty-seventii Virginia Regiment. 



Officers at Organization. 

Dr. William White, captain. 
F. A. Humes, first lieutenant. 

B. P. Morrison, second lieutenant. 
J. N. Humes, third lieutenant. 
David King, color sergeant. 

C. M. Knott, first orderly sergeant. 

Ed. Hortenstine, second orderly sergeant. 



Officers at Reorganization, 186S 



B. P. Morrison, captain. 

L. Hortenstine, first lieutenant. 

C. M. Knott, second lieutenant. 
J. N. Humes, third lieutenant. 
William H. Suit, "first sergeant. 
J. E. Crawford, second sergeant. 
John N. Hilliard, third sergeant. 
Joseph E. Earls, fourth sergeant. 
Samuel B. Bowers, fifth sergeant. 
John G. Duff, first corporal. 
Ebenezer Dinsmore, second corporal. 
Isom H. Williams, third corporal. 
John T. Bott, fourth corporal. 



Alfreds. James C. 
Barker, William F. 
Bowers, John L. 
Bowman, Peter. 
Bowman, Tj're. 
Bridgeman, John. 
Bridgcman. Joshua. 
Campbell, William H. 
Chick, Meriwether L. 
Chapman. George W. 
Clark, Alpheus. 
Church. Dewey C. 
Church, Nathaniel. 
Clark, George W. 



Privates. 

Clark, James C. 
Clark, Samuel. 
Coalter, James C. 
Chick, William. 
Chick, Lewis. 
Cox, Alison. 
Cox, James. 
Cuddy, James G. 
Dinsmore, James. 
Dinsmore, Samuel. 
Dinsmore, William. 
Dooly, Frank W. 
Drake, Edward. 
Duff, John S. B. 



Dye, Richard. 
Davis, Wm. (Drummer.) 
Dinsmore, George L. 
Estep, James F. 
Estep, James. 
Estep, George. 
Ewing, James A. 
Fern, John H. 
Fern, Nathan B. 
Franklin, Miles H. T. 
Glenn, William. 
Gentry, , killed at Mc- 
Dowell. 
Gilliland, Mike. 



873 



Southwest Virginia, 17J^6-1786. 



Goflf, Hugh L. 
Goff, William H. 
Gilliland, David. 
Gobble, Lilburn H. 
Goff, Jacob. 
Green, Joshua. 
Greer, Buck. 
Hilliard, James. 
Harless, Alfred P. 
Harless, William A. 
Henritze, Samuel. 
Holley, William. 
Holt, Isaac. 
Holt, James H. 
Hilliard, Samuel L. 
Hilliard, Robert A. 
Hickok, Charles H. 
Johnston, Daniel. 
Johnston, William D. 
Keller, John. 
King, Cyrus. 
King, Edward. 
King, J. Stanton. 
Linticum, Thomas. 
Leggins, Alexander. 
Leggins, John. 
Moore, James. 
McVey, Samuel. 



McVey, James. 
McDaniel, Alfred. 
Moorefield, Stephen C. 
Mitchell, John. 
Mise, Russell. 
Mise, Jesse S. 
Massey, Gus. 
Owens, William. 
Oney, Robert (killed). 
Perry, Wm. 
Pippin, Robert. 
Privitt, Eli. 
Privott, Chester. 
Pippin, Tom. 
Phillips, Jasper. 
Roe, Elisha. 
Roberts, William E. 
Rock, Thomas. 
Scott, Joseph. 
Scott, Andy J. 
Skinner, William (Fifer). 
Shelton, Jacob M.(M. D.). 
Shelton, Jacob. 
Shelton, William L. 
Shelton, James. 
Shelton, James J. 
Stone, Samuel L. 
Shepherd, Henry P. 



Shortt, Daniel. 
Skinner, Daniel T. 
Scott, Campbell. 
Sullins, Elisha. 
Saul, William. 
Sullins, Russell. 
Sullins, Joseph T. 
Sullins, John. 
Shaver, David. 
Shaver, Joshua. 
Tate, Austin B. 
Thomas, William E 
Taylor, Joe. 
Vaughan, Edward. 
Vaughan, Joseph. 
Wallace, William L. 
Webb, Charles 0. 
Weaver, William. 
Williams, William. 
Woodward, George W. 
Woodward, Robert S. 
Wilson, James. 
Williams, Isom. 
Wirrum, John. 
Worley, Wid. 
Williams, John. 
Whicker, Ewell. 



"WASHINGTON ENDEPENDENTS," AFTERWARDS COMPANY K, 
THIRTY-SEVENTH VIRGINIA INFANTRY. 

Officers at Organization. 

Dr. James L. White, captain. 
Joseph T. Campbell, first lieutenant. 
Wm. B. Clark, second lieutenant. 
Benj. C. Clark, third lieutenant. 
Charles F. Keller, first sergeant. 
Abram B. Keller, second sergeant. 
Robert S. Bowie, third sergeant. 
Wm. Clark, fourth sergeant. 
W. jx. Aven, first corporal. 
Samuel Houston, second corporal. 
Daniel T. Stone, third corporal. 
Thomas J. Warren, fourth corporal. 
W. S. Preston, color-bearer. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



873 



Officers at Reorganization. 

John A. Preston, captain. 
L. Irby Forrest, first lieutenant. 
Robert S. Bowie, second lieutenant. 
Waiter S. Preston, third lieutenant. 
Andrew W. McConnell, first sergeant. 
Thomas J. Warren, second sergeant. 
John K. Deadmore, third sergeant. 
Wm. Clark, fourth sergeant. 
Adam F. Thompson, fifth sergeant. 
Lilbum Fern, first corporal. 
Wm. J. Crabtree, second corporal. 
Joseph H. McNew, third corporal. 
Joseph B. McDaniel, fourth corporal. 
James Vance elected captain 1861 to fill vacancy occasioned by resigna- 
tion of Captain James L. White. 



Privates. 



Aven, W. A., wounded March 20, 
1862; died since war. 

Aven, M. G., killed at Cedar Run 
August 9, 1862. 

Berry, R. A., died since war. 

Berry, Smith, discharged. 

Berry, J. D. 

Branch, W. S. 

Brannon, J. C. 

Barger, J. T., discharged. 

Brooks, J. F., died during war. 

Brown, James. 

Brown, T. E., died since war. 

Bowie, R. S., wounded; died since 
war. 

Cronan, Tliomas. 

Clark, W. B., died during war. 

Clark, W., died since war. 

Clark, B. C, died since war. 

Clark, I. G. 

Clark, Thomas, died since war. 

Clark, J. A. W., wounded at Mc- 
Dowell. 

Clark, Andrew, died since war. 

Cole, F. P., wounded ; died since war. 

Cole, B. G. 

Campbell, J. G., died since war. 

Campbell, J. H., died during war. 



Cavenah, J. 

Cosby, J. D., discharged, afterwards 

joining Company D, First Virginia 

Cavalry. 
Crabtree, W. J. 
Daniel, J. B., wounded; died May 3, 

1863. 
Carmack, D. C, died since war. 
Daniel, J. D. 
Davis, L. D. 
Davis, John. 

Davis, J. E., died since war. 
Duff, S. G. 
Deadmore, J. K., wounded ; died since 

war. 
Driskell, James. 

Denton, J. R., killed August 9, 1862. 
Denton, J., died during war at Fort 

Delaware. 
Denton, E., died during war at Fort 

Delaware. 
Dunn, Theophilus, wounded May 25, 

1862. 
Donagough, J., killed. 
Estep, George, killed May 3, 1863. 
Estep, James, killed May 3, 1863. 
Fleenor, M. V. 
Forran, Lilbum, wounded. 



874 



SoutJiivest Yirgiuid. ITJjO-lTSG. 



Fields, J. T. 

Forrest, L. I., killed SpotsyIvani;i 
Courthouse 1S()4. 

Forrest, J. T., vvoiuided. 

Farnsworth, J. S., discharged; died 
since war. 

Gorman, J. 

Gray, M. L., died during war, 1861. 

Grimm, S. D., wounded Petersburg 
March 25, 1865. 

Hayter, F. H., killed August 9, 1862. 

Hayter, W. D., died since war; 
wounded at Winchester. 

Hicks, R., wounded; discharged. 

Hobbs, J. L., killed August 9, 1862. 

Hobbs, J. W. 

Hobbs, Elkanah. 

Houston, Samuel, died since war. 

Hill, Felix, wounded; died since 
war. 

Ireson, H. H., died during war, 1861. 

Johnston, Joseph W., wounded. 

Kane, Edward, wounded. 

King, James, killed March 23, 1SG2. 

Keller, C. F. 

Keller, S. G., wounded March 2.3, 
1862. 

Keller, A. B., wounded. 

Kenney, David. 

Kiser, A. R., Avounded. 

Keys, A., died during war. 

Keller, John. 

Lowry, David. 

Middleton, J. H., wounded August 
9, 1862. 

Mallicote, A. L., died since war; dis- 
charged. 

Maxwell, A. 

Maxwell, J. V., died since war. 

Mays, J. R., died since war. 

Mc(yonnell, A. W., wounded; died 
since the war. 

McConnell, J. J., killed May 3, 1863. 

McHenry, W. A.,* wounded at Mc- 
Dowell. 

McNew, Joseph, killed August 9, 
1862. 



Mitchell, J. D. 

INlalone, D. 

iMinnick, Ben. 

Minnick, W. 8., wounded. 

Milliard, E., wounded May 3, 1863. 

Milliard. 8. L., killed IMcDowell, 

1862. 
McCarty, C. P., discharged. 
Morefield, D. 
McCauley. F. S., wounded ^lay ,'5, 

1863. 
O'Brien, Martin. 
Osborne, E., wounded Chancellors- 

ville. 
Osborne. \\'., killed at Spotsylvania 

Courthouse. 
Pemberton, S. H., discharged. 
Preston, W. S., wounded. 
Preston, R. J. 
Preston, J. A., wounded August 9, 

1862, Cedar Run and Amelia 

Courthouse. 
Preston, R. A. 

Potler, A., wounded; died in service. 
Ropp, Wm. H., died since war. 
Ropp, H. P., killed at Winchester, 

1864. 
Reedy, Fred., killed August 9, 1862. 
Roadman, Wm., killed 1864. 
Rigle, J. W., wounded Sharpsburg. 

Shaver, . 

Scott, A. J. 

Sherman, L. S., wounded May 3, 

1863. 
Stewart, W., woiuided; died since 

the war. 
Stewart, B. 

Sullivan, J., died during war. 
Stone, T. P., discharged; died since 

war. 
Stevens, D. C, discharged. 
Smith, James A., died during war. 
Stone, D. T., discharged. 
Talbert, W. 
Thompson, W. M., wounded August 

9, 1862. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



875 



Thompson, A. F., wounded May 2, Vance, James, wounded March 23, 



1863, and second Manassas. 
Trigg, A. B., wounded August 0, 

1862; died since war. 
Trigg, T. K.. wounded August 0, 

1862. 



1862; died since war. 
Warren, T. J., wounded. 
*White, James L. 
■■'Whicker, Thomas. 



GLADE SPRING RIFLES. 

CoMPA>^Y F, Thirty-Seventh Virginia Regiment Infantry. 

Officers. 

Robert P. Carson, captain. 
George Graham, first lieutenant. 
James L. Cole, second lieutenant. 
Benj. Snodgrasis, third lieutenant. 
P. S. Hagy, first sergeant. 
William M. Allison, second sergeant. 
Andrew Kelly, third sergeant. 
Wm. H. Miller, fourth sergeant. 
Michael H. Duft', first corporal. 
John B. Allison, second corporal. 
Benjamin Reed, third corporal. 
Samuel P. Edmondson, fourth corporal. 



Alderson. Davis. 
Authenreith, Louis. 
Asberry, \\ m. L. 
Adkins, Wm. 
Allison. Wm. W. 
Allison. John B. 
Anderson, Jas. J. 
Buchanan, A. E. 
Buchanan, Davis A. 
Buchanan, Wm. R. 
Buchanan, Wm. W. 
Buchanan, David H. 
Buchanan, A. R. 
Buchanan. Moses S. 
Bhxekwell. Wm. B. 
Barbary, W. H. 
Bullen, David. 
Carson, R. P. 
Cole, Jas. L. 
Clark, W. D. 



Privates. 

Clark, Wm. A. 
Clark, John B. 
Clark, Jas. A., Jr. 
Clark, Jas. A. 
Carpenter, John C. 
Duff, M. J. H. 
DeBusk, Wm. 
DeBusk, David J. 
DeBusk, Andrew J. 
Doss, Elias. 

Edmondson, Andi'ew B. 
Edmondson, Samuel P. 
Edmondson, Samuel N. 
Edmondson, David. 
Edmondson, James. 
Edmondson, John \^'. 
Edmondson, Robert. 
Fari<s, Jacob M. 
Faris, Sauiucl. 
Frv, Thomas. 



Graham, George. 
Garrett, Henry. 
Graham, Samuel. 
Gentry, Elijah. 
Glenn, John. 
Glenn, Samuel. 
Glenn, William. 
Hutton, Samuel J. 
Button, Robert S. C. 
Horn, Eassel L. 
Houston, W. C. 
Haden, Nathaniel. 
Ha%Hhorn, Wm. 
Hawthorn, Robert. 
HaA\i;horn, M. B. 
Hawtliorn, A. F. 
Hawthorn, David T. 
Hawthorn, B. D. 
Hawtliorn, H. C. 
Holloway, A. J. 



♦Furnished by Walter Preston, T. K Trigg and C. F'. Keller. 



876 



Southwest Virginia, 17Jt.6-1786. 



Hagy, Wm. Mc. 
Hagy, Wm. 
Hagy, P. S. 
Home, John E. 
Heath, William. 
Kelly, Andrew. 
Kelly, Wm. B. 
Kelly, George. 
Kelly, Wm. 
Kelly, Wm. R. 
Kelly, Samuel. 
Keys, Andrew. 
Lowry, Wm. G. G. 
Lowry, Robert S. 
Love, Jos. R. 
Lefler, Sam. H. 
Loggins, John M. 
Loggins, Wm. A. 
Lilly, Wm. W. 
Larimer, Robert E. 
Larimer, Robert J. 
Louis, Philip. 
McCall, John. 
McCall, John M. 
McCall, Wm. 
Mock, E. H. 
Mock, Peter G. 
Moore, James. 
McVey, James. 
McVey, William. 
McVey, Anderson. 
McNew, Arthur. 
McNew, John. 



Mindler, F. T. 
McCrackin, Madison. 
Miller, Wm. H. 
McCall, Robert L. 
Moore, Wm. 
Moore, Andrew F. 
Nye, James H. 
Neif, Andrew M. 
Nichols, Edmond. 
Owens, Alexander. 
Owens, William. 
Orr, James. 
Preston, John. 
Powers, Samuel H. 
Powers, James M. 
Poore, Jerry. 
Poole, John R. 
Poole, C. S. 
Pafford, M. W. 
Painter, Thomas R. 
Reed, Benj. 
Reed, Thomas. 
Reed, Arthur. 
Reedy, Elijah H. 
Reedy, Wm. M. 
Ryburn, Wm. B. 
Rambo, Samuel K. 
Reedy, David. 
Rotenberry, James. 
Robinson, Samuel. 
Rosenbalm, J. D. 
Rosenbalm, R. R. 
Rosenbalm, James. 
Roe, Andrew J. 



Snodgrass, Benj. 
Snodgrass, Wm. M. 
Snodgraiss, Wm. 
Snodgrass, James. 
Stewart, Thomas H. 
Sheffield, Thos. P. 
Straus, Jos. 
Smith, Henry. 
Stringer, Winston- 
Stringer, Thos. H. 
Stringer, Jeff. A. 
Thurman, P. B. 
Thomas, Charles. 
Thomas, Edward H. 
Thomas, Moses E. 
Thomas, Andrew. 
Thomas, Samuel. 
Thomais, Geo. 
Tilson, Stephen J. 
Tomlinson, Jabez. 
Trent, John. 
Trent, Isaac. 
Troxwell, John. 
Vanderpool, James. 
Wright, John. 
Wright, H. F. 
Wright, Henry. 
Widener, Wm. M. 
Widener, Nelson. 
Widener, James. 
White, James. 
White, Thomas J. B. 
*Widener, John J. 



TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT VIRGINIA CAVALRY, COMPANY C. 

Officers. 

Henry Bowen, colonel. 

John T. Radford, lieutenant-colonel. 

Henry F. Kendrick, major. 

John C. Stanfield, captain Company C, Twenty-second. 

John B. Hamilton, first lieutenant. 

Theophilus Dunn, second lieutenant. 

Robert Horton, third lieutenant. 

Robert Bittle, adjutant. 



♦Furnished by Benj. Reed and Andrew Kelly. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



877 



Albridge, Newton. 
Belcher, Jos. 
Barker, Martin. 
Bailey, John. 
Brununit, Wm. 
Bare, Larkin. 
Bagley, Tobias (Ky.). 
Clark, Job. 
Ck)wan, Isaac. 
Cuddy, Henry. 
Cuddy, L. B. 
Cuddy, John. 
Dunn, John F. 
Dunn, R. H. 
Dishman, Albert. 
Dowell, James. 
Francher, Chas.* 
Fields, John. 
Fleming, Wm. 
Graham, W.L. (S. C). 
Norton, Nathan ( Scott ) , 
Hamilton, Thomas. 



Privates. 

Hamilton, Robert. 
Hamilton, Brandon. 
Hartisock, Thomas. 
Hartsock, Charles. 
Harmon, Godfrey. 
Hewitt, Malachi. 
Ingle, John W. 
Jenkins, John. 
Kenady, M. J. 
Leonard, Robert. 
Leonard, Jordan. 
Lane, Thomas. 
Mitchell, Wm. 
Mitchell, Levi. 
Massingill, Henry. 
Musick, W. Y. C. 
Musick, Thomas. 
McHenry, Wm. 
McCotwick, John. 
Miles, John. 
Nunly, James. 
Nunly, Ashborn. 



Piper, Brown. 

Piper, . 

Paugh, A. J. 
Philips, Robert. 
Price, Robert. 
Ruple, Joseph. 
Roberts, James. 
Scott, George. 
Stuflfle, Jordan. 
Smith, Chesterfield. 
Smith, Wm. 
Slaughter, John.f 
Sproles, Jos. 
Stone, Chas. (S. C), 
Thompson, Albert. 
Vermillion, Wm. 
Walker, Robert. 
Williams, James. 
Woods, John. 
Worley, Nathan. 
Worley, i^. B. 
Worley, Joseph.J 



Remarks. 
This regiment belonged to General John McCausland's Brigade and Ran- 
som's Division. Made the raid to Washington, D. C, with Early; then to 
Chambersburg, Pa. 



TWENTY-FIRST VIRGINIA CAVALRY, COMPANY F. 

Officers. 
William E. Peters, colonel. 
David Edmondson, lieutenant-colonel. 
John Halley, major. 

Starks, adjutant. 

F. T. Gray, captain. 

J. G. R. Davis, first lieutenant. 

B. D. Hawthorn, second lieutenant. 

James Gray, third lieutenant. 

Mike Gilliland, first sergeant. 

T. B. Berry, second sergeant. 

W. F. Allison, third sergeant. 



*Thl8 man belonged to United Stat«s array. His brother was stiot for sleeping on 
post, and he came South for revenge. 

fBelonged to A. C. Cummlng's Company, Mexican war. 
JFurnished by Captain J. C. Stanfleld. 



878 



Southwest Virginia, lUd-nSG. 



Aven, Wiley. 
Brown, Alex. 
Bowers, Abe. 
Berry, D. F. 
Boiling, Gam. 
Boiling, James. 
Cowan, Rutledge. 
Clark, Peter J. 
Campbell, David. 
Campbell, John. 
Campbell, David, Jr. 
Cox, Mike. 
Clark, Andrew. 



Privates. 

Caldwell. Wm. K. 
Cross, James. 
Gray, John C. 
Gray, W. M. 
Garrett, Abe. 
Keys, Robert. 
Keller, Jacob. 
King, Leander. 
King, Samuel. 
Loggins, Wm. 
Loggins, James. 
Larimer, Andrew. 
Longley, >Seldon. 



McQuown, Alex. 
McCall, James. 
McDaniel, Joseph. 
Pemberton, B. F. 
Pemberton, Richard. 
Quisenberry, Lewis. 
Roe, Edward. 
Talley, Wm. 
Widener, Nelson. 
Widener, Lilburn. 
Wright, Robert W. 
Wiley, Wm. W.* 



COMPANY 1, FORTY-EIGHTH VIRGINIA REGIMENT. 

Officers. 

J. C. Campbell, captain. Wounded McDowell. 

F. S. Robertson, first lieutenant. 

J. Carmack, second lieutenant. Bristol. 

E. Rodefer, third lieutenant. Greendale. 

J. A. Vance, first sergeant. Died Lewisburg, W. Va. 

William Fields, second sergeant. Wounded at Richmond. 

W. H. Hamilton, third sergeant. 

S. G. Ingham, fourth sergeant. 

M. R. Latham, fifth sergeant. 

T. M. Gobble, first corporal. 

T. N. Hamilton, second corporal. 

F. C. Ceilings, third corporal. 

M. L. Bocock, fourth corporal. 



Privates. 



Alfreds, L. S. 
Bowser, J. R. 
Berry, Hugh. 
Buckles, H. G. 
Branson, W. J. 
Booher, George. 
Booher, John S. 
Booher, W. D. 
Branson, A. 
Bowers, John R. 



Cunningham, A. J., wounded second 
Manassas. 

Campbell, 0. H., wounded at Gettys- 
burg. 

Choice, P. P., wounded at Winches- 
ter. 

Carr, Alfred, died in camp at Big 
Spring. 

Chapman, D. G. 

Crowell, Wm. S. 



♦Partial list furnished by Thomas B. Berry. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



879 



Crowell. Robert N. 

Cuddy, John R., died in prison. 

Dixon, C. B. 

Dickenson, C. 0., killed at Chancel- 
lorsville. 

Dickenson, W. H. 

Dickenson, John P., died in prison. 

Davis, Wm. M. 

Dickenson, James. 

Dickenson, R. C. 

Fleenor, Isaac G., killed at Gettys- 
burg. 

Fleenor, Robert H., killed at Gettys- 
burg. 

Fleenor, James. 

Fleenor, Harvey G., died a prisoner. 

Fleenor, Tlu)s. C, killed at Winches- 
ter. 

Fleenor, Samuel E. 

Fleenor, W. ^Y., wounded at Sharps- 
burg. 

Fleenor, ^I. (}., wounded at Chan- 
cellorsville. 

Guess, .John. 

Guess, .Jas. W. P., wounded at Chan- 
cellorsville. 

Guess, N. C. 

Gobble, J. B. 

Grubb, Jacob H. 

Hagy, J. Harrison. 

Henderson, .John L., killed at Cedar 
Mountain. 

Hamilton, John B. 

Harris, Samuel L. 

Hagy, David C. 

Humphreys, John. 

Humphreys, Daniel, wounded at 
Chanceilorsville. 

Heatherly, Geodfry. 

Hughes, James E. 

Hughes, O. F. 

Hiitton, J. H. 

Hayton, Gr«orge. 

Harley, .John M., died in prison. 

Hag>-, W. F. 

Hamilton, W. H. 

Ingham, Moses. 

Ireson, W. L., wounded Gettysburg 
and Petersburg. 



Ingle, A. H., wounded Chanceilors- 
ville. 

Ingle, Joseph. 

Ireson, J. L. 

Jones, T. F. 

Johnston, John F. 

Jones, Russell, wounded Hatcher's 
Run. 

Kestner, J. H., died near Harrison- 
burg, Va. ( supposed ) . 

Kegly, Wm. H., wounded Mine Run. 

Kingsolver, A. F., died in prison. 

Kingsolver, David. 

Kennedy, John W., died Valley 
^Mountain. 

Kennedy, A. J., died Elmira, N. Y. 

Kestner, .J. A., wounded second 
Manassas. 

Lewis, George W. 

Lyon, Churchill, died in hospital. 

Lyon, David, died in hospital. 

Lyon, Josiah. 

Lyon, R. F. 

Minnpower, M. M., wounded at 
Gettysburg. 

Morgan, W. J. 

McPhatridge, N. B. 

Murray, Drewry. 

Minnick, Thomas J. 

Minnick, John P. 

Meade, John E., wounded at Bath. 

MaHaffey, Samuel C. 

Moore, Jos. E. 

Moore, R. S., killed at Richmond. 

McGee, C. J. 

Mobley, W. W. 

Meayle, Abram F. 

Mitchell, J. W. 

Muisick, A. G., wounded at Wilder- 
ness. 

Musick, T. W. 

Price, Daniel E. 

Price, Wm. F. 

Price, Emory O., wounded at Gettys- 
burg. 

Perdue, Wiley H., died in hospital. 

Painter, Arthur P., died in hospital. 



880 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



Pitzer, James M. 

Parrott, Henry. 

Ramsey, Wm. H. 

Rush, Robert W. 

Roberts, David C, killed at Gettys- 
burg. 

Roberts, Henry. 

Ramsey, H. 

Roberts, James. 

Roberts, W. W. 

Roberts, John, wounded Chancellors- 
ville. 

Shaver, Martin, wounded at the 
Wilderness. 

Shoemaker, R. R., died in camp. 

Smith, John A. 

Scyphers, W. G. 

Stout, Samuel. 

Stout, Wm., killed at Gettysburg. 

Stout, J. H. 



Stout, W. W. 

Thompson, A. G., wounded Gettys- 
burg. 

Town send, George F. 

Trammell, Nath. A. 

Vaughan, E. 

Wilson, James P. 

Wilson, W. J. 

Wilson, John A., wounded at Rich- 
mond. 

Wilson, J. H. 

Wilson, A. S. 

Wilson, Samuel. 

Wilson, J. H. 

Webb, G. T. 

Webb, David J. 

Warren, W. 

White, J. M. 

*White, John H. 



COMPANY H, THIRTY-SEVENTH VIRGINIA VOLUNTEERS. 
Officers. 

R. E. Grant, captain. 

Robert Wright, first lieutenant. 

I. C. Rambo, second lieutenant. 

W. B. Edmondson, third lieutenant. 



Arnold, Thomas. 
Arnold, M. S. 
Buck, Wm. 
Barlow, James. 
Beattie, John. 
Berry, James. 
Barberry, James. 
Black, Samuel. 
Bailey, Wm. 
Brown, Abe. 
Buchanan, Moses. 
Carson, Wm. 
Clark, P. D. 
Caldwell, S. T. 



Privates. 

Caldwell, T. Jeff. 
Carrington, W. C. 
Cole, Andrew. 
Duflf, Felix. 
Duff, E. 
Davis, Edward. 
DeBusk, Thomas. 
DeBusk, David. 
Dungan, Thomas. 
Elrod, Henry. 
Elrod, Wiley. 
Edmondson, M. R. 
Fulcher, James. 
Grant, J. Tol. 



Harris, Jacob. 
Hellenstruttet, Wm. 
Keller, Joseph. 
Lowry, Robert. 
McClure, N. B. 
McGhee, John. 
Moser, James. 
McGinnis, Samuel. 
McKee, Matt. 
McKee, Joseph. 
Morrison, David. 
McCrackin, Fulk. 
McCrackin, Frank. 
McCrackin, Hugh. 



♦Furnished by John Roberts and John B. Hamilton. 



Washington County, 1777-1870. 



881 



McCrackin, Joseph. 
McCrackin, James. 
McCrackin, Green. 
Neely, Joe. 
Rhea, John. 
Rhea, Joseph. 
Roe, T. J. 
Roe, N. 

Rosenbalm, Tice. 
Rosenbalm, James. 
Rosenbalm, Eli. 
Rosenbalm, Dave. 



Speer, Joe. 
Speer, John. 
Smith, Tobe. 
South, Clabe. 
South, Columbus. 
South, C. A. 
South, Frank. 
Thomas, Isaac. 
Thomas, J. D. 
Thomas, J. Matt. 
Thomas, Con. 
Thomas, Henry. 
Vestal, L. 



Vestal, Henry. 
V'estal, John. 
Vestal, Robert. 
Wright, Wm. 
Wright, Frank. 
Wright, James. 
Wright, Thomas. 
Wright, John. 
Widener, John. 
Widener, Wm. 
Widener, James. 
Widener, Lige.* 



COMPANY C, TWENTY-FIRST VIRGINIA CAVALRY (AT CLOSE 

OF WAR). 

Officers. 
Robert J. Preston, captain. 
Thomas Sutherland, first lieutenant. 
William Meriweather, second lieutenant. 
James McChain, orderly sergeant. 
John Prather, second sergeant. 
Marsh Baker, third sergeant. 



Byars, D. 0. 
Burkes, Wm. 
Dickson, Thos. 



Privates. 
Lane, Geo. 
Mooney, Richard. 
Osborne, Elbert. 
Osborne, Thos. 



Sutherland, Tuck. 
Wix, John. 
Wright, Dick. 



SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, 1898. 

(Citizens of Washington County Participating Therein.) 

Company K, Foett-third United States Infantry, 

John Hortenstine, corporal. Died in service. 
Frank Woolwine, R. Ed. Booher, 

Charles C. Sandoe, Hugh Stephenson, 

William Maiden. 
James E. Clark. Died in service in Philippine Islands. 
James McCall and Andrew Taylor. Rejected for physical 
disability at Fort Ethan Allen, Vt. 



Company H, Third Regiment of Volunteer Infantry U. S. A. 
R. J. Summers, corporal, promoted to sergeant. 



•Partial list furnished bj' Isaac C. Rambo. 



882 Southwest Virginm, 17Jf6-17S6. 

Burch, G. V. Kestner, J. R. Shell, Henry. 
Booher, R. E. Maloy, F. L. Sancloe, Ray B. 
Clark, Jas. E. Williams, Jas. W. Sandoe, Chas. Q. 
Cornett, Wni. H. Widener, A. J. Scott, J. W. Died in ser- 
Flannagan, Matthew. Maiden, Frank. vice. 
Flannagan, Chas. Nicholas, C. H. Snodgrass, A. O. 
Greer, Wm. Rosenbalm, J. R. Williamson, Andrew. 
Gregory, Tuck. Rambo, H. J. Bi-ownlow, Frank. After- 
Hudson, E. L. Roberts, John. wards Corporal 2d 
Hagy, R. Preston. Stultz, W. D. Tenn. Regiment. 

Tliis company was organized at Danville, Va., and was mustered into 
United States service at Camp Lee, Richmond, Va., May 24, 1898, and was 
commanded by Captain R. E. Freeman, of Danville, Va. 

Fourth Virginia Regiment. 

J. C. Watson, major. 

Privates. 

Thomas R. Hines, John Rodefer, B. D. Smythe. 

J. Nathan Boardwine, Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Wounded at San Juan 
Hill. 



TRUSTEES OF THE ABINGDON ACADEMY, WITH DATE OF 
APPOINTMENT. 

1803. John Campbell Died 1825. 

Robert Craig, Sr Resigned 1824. 

Richard White Died 1826. 

Robert Campbell Removed from county 1825. 

James Bradley Removed from county 1824. 

Gerrard T. Conn Died about 1823. 

William King Died in 1808. 

Francis Preston Died May, 1835; president of Board 

1822-1826. 
James White Died October, 1838; president of Board 

1831-1838. 

Claiborne Watkins Died 1804. 

Andrew Russell Treasurer 1825-1841. 

William Tate Resigned 1822. 

Henry Dixon Resigned. 

Frederick Hamilton Died 1808. 

David Campbell Resigned; secretary of Board 1803-1837. 

1804. James King Removed 1805. 

1805. Edward Campbell Died February, 1833. 

1807. John Preston Resigned. 

Stephen Bovell Removed from county 1836. 



Washington CounUj, 1777-1S70. 883 

Earl B. Clapp Died .September, 1854; treasurer 1823- 

lS2o. 

John JVIcClellan Removed from county 1819. 

Francis Smith Resigned 1843. 

James Harper Died 1815. 

William Trigg Died 1813. 

Jonathan Smith Removed from county 1810. 

Thomas McChesney Died 1836. 

Michael Deckard Removed from county 1811. 

William Snodgrass Resigned 1822. 

William Y. Conn .Died 1837. 

James Cunimings Died August, 1840. 

Robert Craig, Jr Removed from county 1817. 

Connally Findlay Died 1817. 

Peter Johnston Died 1831; president of Board 1826- 

1831. 

Benjamin Estill Riesigned 1837. 

Wm. C. Pr^eston Removed from county 1824. 

Robert E. Cumimings Removed from county 1834. 

Joseph C. Trigg . ., Died September, 1831. 

Richard White, Jr .Died 1827. 

William Byars Resigned. 

James Taylor .Lived Smyth county. 

John M. Preston Resigned; president of Board 1838- 

1849. 

John Gibson Resigned 1826. 

John X. Humes . Died July 1871 ; president of Board 

1849-1871. 
Peter J. Branch ,. Secretary 1837-1861; treasurer 1841- 

1861. 

John H. Fulton Died January, 1836. 

James King .Resigned. 

Chas. C. Johnston Died 1832. 

James W. Preston Removed from county 1838. 

Peter C. Johnston Removed to Smyth county. 

Edward Latham .Resigned 1843. 

James L. WTiite Died December, 1838. 

William Y.vn.ng . Removed from county. 

Daniel Trigg Died February, 1853, 

Robert R. Preston Resigned 1837. 

Samuel Logan Died July, 1855. 

Jacob Lynch Died March, 1862. 

Connally F. Trigg Removed from county 1856. 

William Y. C. \^'hite Resigned 1871. 

John W. C. Watson Removed from county. 

Jeremiah Bronough ....... .Removed from county 1843. 

Wvndham Robertson. 



884 Southwest Virginia, 17JfG-1786. 

1843. Chas. C. Gibson .Died June, 1844. 

1844. Thomas L. Preston . .Removed to Smyth county. 

1849. James D. McCabe ....... . . .Removed from county. 

1852. James K. Gibson Died March, 1879. 

Beverley R. Johnston Resigned 1862. 

John A. Campbell Died 1886. 

1854. Walter Preston .Died November, 1867. 

1856. George W. Hopkins Died March, 1861. 

Edward M. Campbell . ., Died June, 1878; president of Board 

1871-1878. 

James McChain . . Died March, 1869. 

Charles S. Bekem Died August, 1875. 

1859. Alexander R. Preston ......Died. 

George V. Litchfield Died February 5, 1875. 

Samuel V. Fulkerson Died July, 1862. 

Arthur C. Cummings Resigned. 

1862. John G. Kreger Secretary and treasurer 1861-189 — , 

Thomas G. McConnell. 

Newton K. White. 
1864. Charles J. Cummings. 
1869. David G. Thomas. 

James Fields. 
1871. James L. \\^iite. 

Samuel N. Honaker Died January 22, 1903, 

1875. Robert A. Preston. 

Daniel Trigg President of Board 1878-1904, 

Jamies C. Greenway, 
1878. John F. Sutton. 
1880. Thomas W. White. 
1886. George E. Penn Secretary 189— to 1904. 

G. V. Litchfield, Jr. 

Frank B. Hutton. 

F. S. Robertson. 

Wm. G. G. Lowry. 

Henley Fugate. 



Washington Countij, 1777-1870. 



MUSTER ROLL OF COMPANIES UPON THE EXPEDITION TO POINT 
PLEASANT, 1774. 

Capt. Daniel Smith's Company. 

Officers. 



Daniel Smith, captain. 
Jolm Kinkead, ensign. 



■\A"ni. Bowen, lievitenant. 
David Ward, ensign. 



Privates. 



Drury Pi'ickett (Puckett) Robert Donalson. 



Joseph Home. 
James Scott. 
Archelaus Scott. 
Samuel Dollarhide. 
Gliristian Bergman. 
DaAad Kingheid, Jr. 
William Neale. 



James Kendrick. 
Thomas Mullin. 
Alden Williams. 
Robert Brown. 
James Smith. 
James Price. 
Joseph Olverson. 



Samuel Vanhook. 
Burton Litton. 
Benja Jones. 
Robert Griffin. 
Thomas Price. 
Richard Price. 
William McFarland. 
John Courtney. 



Capt. Wm. Campbell's Company. 
Privates. 



Philemon Higgins. 
Joseph Newberry. 
Stephen Hopton. 
John Lewns. 
Wm. Hopton. 



John Neil. 
Richard Lynham. 
John Boles. 
Benjamin Richardson. 
John Johnston. 



Richard Woolsey. 
Auldin Williamson. 
Conrad Sterns. 
AVilliam Richardson. 
Wm. Champ. 



James Shelby. 
John Findley. 
Daniel Mungle. 
John Williams. 
Andrew Terrence 

(Torrence). 
Isaac Newland. 
Geo. Ruddle (Riddle). 
Abram Bogard. 



Capt. Shelby's Company. 

Rees Price. 
Jarrett Williams. 
Charles Fielder. 
Andrew Goff. 
Barnett Ogullion. 
Jo's. Hughey 

(James Hughey). 
John Bradley. 
John Sayers. 



John Fain. 

Samuel Fain. 

Samuel Samples. 

Robert Henill (Handley). 

William Casey. 

John Stewart (wounded). 

Richard Burck. 

Elija Robison 

( Robertson ) . 



886 



Southivest Virginia, 17J,G-17S6. 



William Tucker. 
Sanmel Vance. 
Samuel Hensley 

(Handley), 
Arthui- Blackburn. 
George Armstrong. 
March Williams. 
Conrad Nave. 
John Kiley. 



James Harrod. 
Arthur Campbell. 
John Cowan. 
William Martin. 
James Kerr. 
Joseph Blackford. 
James Sanders. 
James Wiley. 
James Davis. 
William Crowe. 
Jared Cowan. 



Henry Shaw (Span). 
Frederick Miingle 

( ilongle ) . 
John Carmack. 
Geo. Brooks. 
Abram Xewland. 
Emanuel Shoatt. 
Peter Torney (Forney). 



Richard Holliway. 
Julius Piobison. 
Benja. Grayum 

( Graham ) . 
Hugh Ogullion 

(O'Gullion). 
Pat'k St. Lawrence. 
Basilael Maxwell. 



Capt. James Hakrod's Party. 



Abraham Chapline. 
John Smith. 
Azaria Reese. 
William Garrett. 
William Venable. 
Azariah Davis. 
William Campbell, 
William Fields. 
David Williams. 
Silas Harlin. 



Patrick Doran. 
Davis Glenn. 
John Shelp. 
Elisha Harlan. 
William Myres. 
John Crowe. 
Henry Hogan. 
James Brown. 
Martin Stull. 
John Clark. 



Capt. Robert Doack's Company. 



Officers. 



John Stephens, lieutenant. 
William Doack, ensign. 
Andrew Thompson, ensign. 



William Ward, 
James Dowliy, 
William Meek, 



Sergeants. 



Privates. 



David Doack, Jr. 
John Stephens. 
Adam Walker. 
Samuel Doack. 
John Williams. 
John Nowell. 
Hugh Robinson. 
Peter Kinder. 
Jacob Dobler. 
Samuel Handly. 
John Pierce. 
Michael Weaver. 
John Messersmith. 



Martin Staily. 
Christly Weaver. 
Barnet Messersmith. 
Henry Waggoner. 
Michael Grigger. 
Nicholas Cloyne. 
Patrick Johnston. 
John Gull ion. 
Charles Fullen. 
Jacob Kinser. 
Michael Kinsor. 
John King. 
Wm. Campbell. 



Samuel Ewing. 
Alexander Ewing, Jr. 
Archibald Reagh. 
Samuel Paxton. 
Robert Miller. 
George Henly. 
Andrew Vaut. 
Jacob Blesly. 
John Adams. 
Philip Catron. 
Peter Hedrick. 
John Cattes. 
George Wambler. 



Wasliingtoii County, 1717-187 0. 



887 



John Bunshell. 
Henry Waggoner, Jr. 
Peter Grigger. 
Campbell Baily. 
Barny Gullion. 
Duncan Gullion. 
James Catron. 
Walter Kinsor. 
Wm. King. 
Samuel Campbell. 
John Maxwell. 
David Maxwell. 
Fredrick Rap. 
Jacob Catron. 
John Downy. 
Thomas IMead. 
Arnold Shell. 
Moses Gordon. 
Samuel Moore. 
George Kinder. 
Adam Bronstetter. 
Thomas Bell. 
Moses Moor. 
John Gilihan. 



Bezaleel Maxwell. 
John Henderson. 
Francis Catron. 
Adam Catron. 
Peter Catron. 
Michael StafFy. 
Michael Walter. 
]\Iitchael Wambler. 
Adam Boh. 
Frederick j\I6or. 
Jacob Hamilton. 
Thomas Hamilton. 
George Carr. 
William Carr. 
Roger Oats. 
John -Crawford. 
John Irvine. 
William Litz. 
James Douglas. 
James Rodgers. 
Daniel Henderson. 
Samuel Henderson. 
James ]Mitchell. 
Pliilip Dutton. 



Jacob Boll. 
Isaac Hamilton. 
Francis Hamilton. 
Michael Catron. 
James Carr. 
Ben Rutherford. 
John Vails. 
John Diver. 
Robert Stephenson. 
George Douglass. 
George Vaut. 
Thomas Rodgers. 
John Lesly. 
Thomas Mitchell. 
John Nuland. 
Alexander Ewing. 
William Ewing. 
John Reagh. 
Paddy Saint Lorrance. 
Robert Porter. 
William Henly. 
Christly Vaut. 
John Carr. 
John Blesly. 



LIST OF WOUNDED MEX OCTOBER 23, 1774. 

Capt. Shelby's Company. 

John Stuart. Reece Price. John Cormick. 

Capt. Russell's Company. 

William Prince. John Basdel. 

Capt. Campbell's Company. 

Thomas Baker. 

Major Robertson's Compan". 

Henry Bowyer. 

Capt. Herbert's Company. 

James Newell. 



888 



Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786. 



List of Men in Capt. Daniel Smith's Company at Elk Garden Four, 
August 13th, 1774. 



Robert Brown. 
John Lewis. 
William Priest. 
Benjamin Jones. 
Thomas Jones. 
Thomas Donalson. 
Richard Breeze. 



James Rogers. 
Henry Manadue. 
Ricliard Price. 
David Kingkeid. 
Ericus Smith. 
James Laughlin, 
Robert Breeze. 



Samuel Priest. 
Thomas Price. 
Robert Donalson. 
Thomas Brumly. 
David Priest. 
James Anderson. 
John Kingkeid. 



James Anderson. 
David Priest. 
Hanry Manadue. 
Robt. Donalson. 



Sept. 12th, 1774. 

Richard Price. 
Robert Brown. 
Ben Jones. 
Samuel Priest. 



Thomas Donalson. 
Thomas Price. 
David Kingkeid. 



List of Men at Glade Hollow Fort. 



Hendley Moore, ensign. 



James McCarty. 
James Price. 
Jeremiah Able. 
Isaac Crisman. 
Richard Thompson. 
Wm. Pharis. 
James Coyl. 



Officers. 

John Dunkin, sergeant. 



Privates. 

Joseph Horn. 
Ab'm Cooper. 
Wm. Bustar. 
Archibald Scott. 
Drury Prickett. 
James Scott. 



Wm. Ferrill. 
Francis Cooper. 
Solomon Litton. 
Wm. Wilmoth. 
Richard By(rd), 
Arch'd Woods. 



At Maiden Springs Station Augltst 26, 1774. 



Officers. 
Robert Brown sergeant till September 23rd. Then Joseph Cravens. 



Henry Willis. 
James McElhany. 
John Jameson. 
Thomas Brumly. 
John Flintham. 
John Newland. 



Privates. 

Philip Dutton. 
Rees Bowen. 
Robert Cravens. 
-Joseph Cravens. 
James Cravens. 
James Rogers. 



And'w Lanmiy. 
James Douglas. 
Samuel Paxton. 
John Cravens. 
David Ward. 



Washington County, 1777-1S70. 
At the Upper Station. 



88!) 



John Campbell, ensign. 



Officers. 

Isaac Spratt, sergeant. 
Priva tes. 



Andrew Steel. 
John Hambleton. 
David Bustar. 
Edward Sharp. 
Janaes Fullen. 
John Williams. 
Levi Bishop. 
Alexander Henderson. 
John Crafford. 
Benjamin Rediford. 
And'w Branstead. 
Rowland Williams. 
Thomas Whitten, Jr. 



Francis Hynes. 
Thomas Rogers. 
Wm. King. 
Jacob Kindar. 
Peter Kindar. 
Christian Bergman. 
Jeremiah Whitton. 
G^eorge Dohorty. 
Alex Grant. 
Wm. Thompson. 
Michael Glaves. 
James Edwards. 
Thomas Potter. 



Robert Mauford ( Moffel ; 
Francis Hambleton. 
Isaiah Hambleton. 
George Vaut. 
James ilitchell. 
Tliomas Whitten, Sr. 
John Grinup. 
Samuel Doaek. 
John Lashly. 
Thomas Meads. 
Daniel Henderson. 
Jonathan Edwards. 
Michael Razor. 



Scouts. 



William Bowen. 
Tliomas Maxwell. 
David Ward. 
Wm. Priest. 



Wm. Crabtree. 
Robert Davis. 
James Fowler. 
Rees Bowen. 



John Kingkeid. 
John Sharp. 
iSamiiel Hays. 






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Index. 891 



INDEX. 



Abb's Valley, origin of name, 115, 116, 382. 

Aliingdon, its history, 616-669; original name, 617; when established. 626; 
origin of name, 626-627; visited by great fire, 635-645; rules and 
regulations to govern trustees, 636; streets macadamized, 638; new 
charter for town, 639-640 ; first mayor and council, 641 ; description 
in 1835, 641-642; Va. and Tenn. R. R., 647; description of town 1875, 
654-655; Abingdon Coal & Iron R. R. Co., 657; mayors and other 
officers, 659-664; purchasers of lots, 664-667. 

Academy, Abingdon, female, 567-571; Abingdon, male, 558-567; principals 
of, 564; students exempted from taxation, 564; Liberty Hall, 579-580. 

Acklin, Christopher, 135, 290, 303, 375, 376, 626, 631, 665, 667. 

Acts of Assembly, manner of holding elections, 158; qualifications of 
voters, 158; dividing Fincastle county, 254; to purchase all salt in 
county, 258 ; members of legislature elected — election contested,263- 
264; first delegates from Wash. Co., 266; to open road to Kentucky. 
279; known as Wilderness road, 280; stopping points and distances 
281; declaring what shall be lawful marriage, 370; dissenting minis 
ters granted licenses, 371; allowing taxes to be paid in stock, tfcc. 
373; members of legislature, 1785, 388; Washrngton county divided 
388; Russell county court, 1786, 388; resolution as to Northwest terri 
tory, 391; Scott county formed, 464; Washington county, members 
legislature, (1819), 467; tolls to be charged on roads, 447; calling 
constitutional convention, 470; Smyth county formed, 472; members of 
legislature 1859; 511; convention to consider secession, 512; 14th 
amendment rejected, 550; 14th and 15th amendment rejected, 555; 
government of states re-organized, 555. 

Adair, 30, 32, 33, 259. 

Adams, George, 110, 132; John, 212; Samuel, 206. 

Address to Cherokees by Col. Campbell, 421-422. 

Address of Hou.se of Burgesses to the king and parliament, 164-160. 

Admiralty, board of — bill of parliament to appoint, 177. 

Agricultural society organized, 494. 

Alamance, battle between regulators and Tryon, 115. 

Aldcrson, Chas. W., 787 ; John, 42 ; William, 93-258. 

Alexander, Archibald, 61. 

Allen, Hugh, 153. 

Allison, Chas., 134-136; Robert, 134. 



:S92 Index. 

AliiLsliouse, 486. 

America, discovery of, 9-10. 

Antiquarian society of Copenhagan, 9. 

Appalaches, 21, 36, 38, 366. 

Appomattox, 34-36. 

Appropriation of Wash, county to equip volunteer companies, 515-518. 

Arbuckles, 109-152. 

Argall, 15. 

Armstrong, John, See. of War under Madison, 630, 032, 633. 

Aspinvale, 360. 

Association formed by members of House, 186. 

Attakullakulla, 73. 

Augusta county — justices of county court, 820-821; sheriffs, 829; attor 

nej's, 834; other officers of county, 839-842. 
Austin, Walker, 34. 

Avery, Waytestill, 247. * 

Aylett, John, 108-132. 

B. 
Bacon, Nathaniel, 17. 
Baznell, William, dwarf, 268. 
Bahama Islands, 10. 
Bailey, D. F., 780. 
Baker, Isaac, 671-674. 

Bancroft's History, author's comment on Battle of King's Mountain, 341. 
Baptist Church, ministers, 845-846. 
Barger, Philip, 57. 
Barr, Geo. R., 506. 
Barrack, Institute, 580. 

Barre, Col., speech in parliament, 183; speech in house of commons, 170. 
Batte, Capt. Henry, 23. 

Bean, Mre. William, captured by Indians, 228. 
Bean, Russell, first white child born in Tennessee, 93. 
Bekem, Chas. S., 791. 
Belfast, 151. 

Benge, half-bred Shawnese, 433-434; scalp sent to Governor, 443. 
Benham, 428. 

Bennett, Gov. Richard, 16. 
Burgess, 13. 

Berkely, Sir Wm., 16-17. 

Berrard, Royal Governor of Mass., 178; legislature of Massachusetts dis- 
solved, 178. 
Beverly, Wm. 42. 

Beverly, Manor of, patent issued, 42. 
Bi^ Island, 241. 
Bill to extend boundaiy line between Virginia and N". Car.,696. 



Index. 893 

Bill to raise revenue in America passed by parliament and approved by 
king, 171. 

Bills of cre'lit, etc., 292. 

Bingeman, o8. 

Bird, Thos. E., 5G1. 

Blackburn, Arthur, 156-230, 231, 620. 

Black Lick, 293. 

Blacksburg, 49. 

Black Wolfe, Indian Chief, invades Burke's Garden, 361. 

Blair, Gen. Francis P., 630. 

Bland, Richard, 181-188-207. 

Bledsoe, Anthony, 116, 243, 263, 649, 625, 748. 

Bledsoe, Col. Isaac, 436. 

Boone, Daniel, attacked by wolves, 76; commissioned captain, 157; marks 
out road to Kentucky, 278. 

Boone, James, murdered by Indians, 142. 

Boonesborough, 278. 

Bcquet, Col., 81. 

Borden, Benjamin, patent granted, 42. 

Boston, evacuated by British troops, 209. 

Botetourt, Lord, 97, 101. 

Botetourt County, early history, lOG, 108; justices of county court, 821, 
822; sheriff's and deputies, 829, 831; attorneys, 835; other officers of 
county, 839, 840, 842. 

Boundary line between Va. and N. C. extended, 696; report of commis- 
sioners, 698. 

Bowen, Heniy, 762. 

Bowen, Rees T., 761. 

Boyd, ilary, date of interment precedes Creswell's, 232. 

Braddock, Gen., 56. 

Bradley, Abram and Reuben, 477. 

Bralley, Robert E., 490. 

Branch, Peter J., 479. 

Braxton, Carter, 251. 

Breed's Hill, battle fought, 206. 

■Rristn] and Goodson, early history, 669-687; census of, 687; officers of, 
687, 689. 

British parliament, prohibit.s all trade with colonies, 208. 

British ship of war, stranded and burned, 207. 

British troops arrive in Boston, 177, 178. 

Brown, John, 598. 

Buchanan, town founded, 43. 

Buchanan, John, 43. 

Buchanan, John A., 763. 

Buchanan, William, 478. 



894 Index. 

Biiiialoes, 49. 

Bunch, Jaines, pensioned by Virginia Assembly, 246. 

Burgesses, House of, 15, 18, 34, 35, 36, 51, 52, 106, 130, 148, 100, 103^ 

164, 169, 176, 186, 204, 28.5. 
Burk, of Burk's Garden, entire family captured or killed, 58. 
Burke, James, 44. 
Burk's Garden, 46. 
Burnt Hill, 733. 
Butt, Jos. M., 788. 
Byars, J. CJoyd, 782. 
Boyd, William, 67. 

C. 

Cabot, John and Sebastian, 10. 

Cafitaehique, 21. 

Callahan, Edward and wife, 629. 

Calloway, Eichard, 279-280. 

Cameron, Alexander, British agent among Cherokces, 218. 
yVCampbell, Arthur, 209, 262, 422, 431, 441, 443, 462, 463, 496, 703, 707, 748 
report of expedition against Cherokees, 342, 348; Major Charles, 43 
David, 84, 256, 270, 290; Gov. David, 118, 42, 201, 452, 459, 461, 766 
John, 84, 791, 792; Col. John B., 463; John A., 771; Jos. T., 513 
Preston W., 776; Thos. J., 789; Gen. Wm., 294, 308, 313, 326, 333, 
338, 340, 350, 359. 

Canada, French expelled, 69. 

Capes, Henry and Charles, 12. 

Carr, Dabney, resolutions offered by, 181. 

Carter, John, family murdered by Indians, 420. 

Cass, Lewis, 489. 

Catholic Church, ministers, 846. 

Cave in Abingdon, 76. 

Celebration of 4th of July, 1812, 453-457. 

Census of county and towns, 851-852. 

Census of Virginia, 851. 

Charles I, and Charles II, 16. 

Charters of Virginia, 694, 695. 

Cherokees, historj' of, 23-27; and Chickasaws, decisive battle, 106. 

Chesapeake Baj% 12. 

Chiswell, Col. John, 69, 71, 90. 

Chota, 72. 

Chote, 246, 294, 348, 360-366, 386, 420. 

Choto, 31, 74, 244. 

Christian Church, ministers, 845, 846. 

Christian, Col. Wm,, 130, 131, 148, 149, 157, 187, 233, 236, 237, 240, 241, 
245, 247, 250, 255. 

Church bells given for manufacturing cannon, 521. 



Index. 895 

Circuit C'cniit, names of judges, GOO: names of clerks, GOO, GOl ; portraits 
of judges, 601, 602. 

Circuit and District Courts of U. S., 002, 604. 

Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery, 598, 599. 

Civil offices, vacated by Act of Congress, 554. 

Clark, David B., 783; Gen. Geo. Rogers, 285; expedition against British 
posts, 286, 287. 

Chiy, Henry, 486; Mitchell, 140. 

Cloud's Fort, 93. 

Cloyd, David, massacre of familj', 79. 

Cloyd vs. Montgomery, 80. 

Cloyd, Major Joseph, 352, 363. 

Cole, Charles B., 379, 326, 354-356, 358, 786. 

Cocke. \Yilliam, .56, 103, 137, 227, 228, 245, 264, 279, 275, 299, 625, 748. 

Cockrell, Ensign Moses, 433, 434. 

Colley, Thomas W., 867. 

Collision of trains carrying troops, 518. 

Colonial troops at Williamsburg, officers, Patrick Henry, Colonel, 208. 

Colonias, except Georgia, send delegates to Philadelphia Convention, 190. 

Colonists, opposition to taxation without representation, 160; money con- 
tributed by colonies, 163. 

Columbus, Christopher, 10. 

Commission of Indians, report to Lord Botetourt, 97. 

Conunittee of Safety appointed, 203; names of committee, 204. 

Companies organized for home defence, 530, 531. 

Condition of country described in letter, 78. 

Confederate armies reorganized, 521. 

Confederate flag raised, 513. 

Confederate price in 1862, 528. 

Congress, second continental, officers, 191-199; meeting at Philadelphia, 
206; day of fasting and prayer, 206. 

Conn, Gerrard T., first postmaster on Holston, 437. 

Conn, Wm. Y., 628. 

Conservative party, candidates of party 1868, 553. 

Constitutional Convention, 209, 210, 211, 242, 256, 425, 466, 467, 470, 471, 
492, 493, 514, 549, 553, 820. 

Constitution of State, 15, 212. 

Constitution of the United States, Convention in Richmond to ratify, 424; 
ratification opposed by Patrick Henry% 424 ; ratified by Convention, 424. 

Contributions of citizens, to needy families of soldiers, 519. 

Convention of representatives of colonies, 188; Constitution, 209, 210, 211, 
242, 256, 42.5, 466, 467, 470, 471, 492, 493, 514, 549, 5.53, 820. 

Cooteha, 24. 

Corn rights, 53. 

Cornwallis, Lord, 292, 301, 302, 341, 350, 351, 352, 355, 356, 357, 358. 



896 Index. 

Cosby, Rev. Lewis F., 343, 795. 

Council of war, 66. 

Councillors, first civil government in America, 13. 

County Court, 260, 268, 272, 303, 476, 480, 533, 555, 593, 594, 595. 

Court house, new one erected, 489, 549. 

Crab Orchard, 84, 85. 

Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws, allies of British govern- 
ment, 217. 

Cresap, Captain, 145. 

Creswell, William, inscrij^tion on slab in Sinking Spring cemetery, 231. 

Crootan, 12. 

Crockett, Walter, granted imnumity for illegal acts against tories, 94. 

Crow, James, 788. 

Cumberland Gap, in route to Kentucky, 27. 

Cumberland river, 50. 

Cummings, Arthur C, 486, 784. 

Cununings, Rev. Charles, 139, 162, 230, 231, 232, 747. 

Cummings, David C, 774. 

Cummings, Robert E., and James, 478. 

Cutts, Col. Richard, 683, 721, 725. 

Cyclone and hailstorm in 1812, 458; track of cyclone not obliterated in 
1882, 459. 

D. 

Pale, Sir Thomas, 14. 

Damascus, 692, 693. 

Dare, Virginia, 11. 

Dartmouth, Lord, 199. 

Davenport, Peter J., 778. 

Davidson, Andrew, 380. 

Davis, Joseph W., 794. 

Davis, Jefferson,members of first cabinet, 514. 

Davis, William, 479. 

Day, of fasting and prayer, on death of President Harrison, 486; on death 

of President McKinley, 486. 

De Biedma, Louis Hernandez, 21, 22, 23. 

Declaration of Independence, committee appointed to draft, 213; report of 
committee adopted, 213, 216. 

Delaware, Lord, 14. 

Demere, Captain, 73. 

De Soto, 10, 20. 

De Villiers, Coimt, 55. 

Dials, 385. 

Diary of citizen of Abingdon, 524, 528. 

Dickenson, Henry, 628. 

Dinwiddie, Robert, Governor of Virginia, 55, 07, 101. 



Index. 897 

Dij?senting churches, permission to erect granted, 43. 

Districts Courts, 597. 

Dixon, Geo. VV., 453, 460, 461. 

Dixon, Henry St. John, 453, 460, 461. 

Doak, Rev. Samuel, 284; first church and school in Tennessee, 284. 

Dobbs, Gov., of North Carolina, 68. 

Dodridge, Dr., 124, 127. 

Dougherty, John, ear bitten ofl', recorded in court, 136. 

Douglas, Stephen A., 511. 

Douglass, famous Indian fighter, 428. 

Dragging Canoe, Indian chief, 223. 

Draper, Dr., account of behavior of Washington county troops, 328, 330. 

Draper, Mrs. John, 44, 57. 

Draper, Jos., 44, 57. 

Draper's Meadows, 46. 

DulT, John, 478. 

Duncan, Elizabeth, pensioned by Virginia Assembly, 244, 245. 

Dunkards, 46. 

Dunkard's Bottom, 56, 57, 67. 

Dunlop, Ephraim, first Commonwealth's attorney, 595; subsequent attor- 
neys, 596; clerks, 596, 

Dunmore, Lord, Gov. of Virginia, dissolved House of Burgesses, 186; fled 
from capitol — ordered payment for powder, removed, 205. 

Dunn, David C, 783. 

Duties on various articles to be repealed, 179. 

Dysart, Capt. James, 287, 288. 

E. 

Early settlers, character of, 122, 124. 

East India Company, ofJer to pay double duty on tea, 182. 

East Tennessee, explored, 43 ; invaded by Federal troops, 528. 

Echols, journal concerning march of Robt. Wade, 518. 

Edmiston, Wm., 32, 103, 256, 369, 370, 375, 376, 769. 

Edmondson, Rees B., 778. 

Education, 557-580. 

Elections, of mcmibers of legislature, 249, 263; election of members con- 
tested, 263-266, Washington county first represented by Tennessean,- 
266, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 512, 551 556. 

Elizabeth, Queen, 11. 

Emancipation of slaves, 444, 445. 

Emory and Heniy College, 575-579; students exempted from taxation, 486.- 

Epps, Major Frank, 208. 

Erickson, Leif, 9. 

Ernest, John H., 524, 777. 



898 Index. 

Estill, Benjamin, IDS, 130, 301, 452, 708. 

Estillville, 466. 

Evans, Jessee, members of family butchered, 295; heroism of wife, 296, 298. 

Expedition of Evan Shelby, 155, 156. 

Exposition of country on both sides, Cumberland IMountains, 279. 

F. 

Famine, in county imminent, 530. 

Faneuil Hall, convention held, 178. 

Ferguson, Major Patrick, 315, 318, 324. 

Fincastle county, organized, 241, 242; members of assembly not admitted, 
251; county divided, 253; justices of county court, 822, 823; sherifi's 
and deputies, 829-831; attorneys, 835; other offieei's of county, 839, 
841, 842. 

Findlay, Alexander, 483; Findlay, Conanally, 485; Findlay, F. S., 257. 

First Indian depredation, 51. 

Fleenor, Micheal, 427. 

Fleenors, settlers in Poor and Rich Valleys, 104, 105. 

Fletcher, Ambrose, family killed and scalped, 234. 

Floyd, John B., 767. 

Fountainbleu, treaty between French and English, 76. 

Fort Chiswell, 71, 115, 174, 219; Fort Dickenson attacked by Indians, 67; 
Fort DuQuesne, 69; Fort Edraiston, 104; Fort Erie, battle ^^^th British 
ships 459; captured bell still in Wytheville, 460; Fort on Holston and 
Clinch rivers, 156, 157, 235; Fort Lewis, 56; Fort Long Island, 75; 
Fort Loudoun, effort to relieve garrison, 71; surrendered to Cherokees, 
72; surrendered garrison attacked, 73; Fort Neeesisity, 55; Fort 
Patrick Henry, 218; Fort Prince George, 75; Fort Stanwix, 85, 93, 
148; Fort Thompson, 104. 

Forts, description of, 105. 

Forts, erected for defence, 218, 219. 

Fourteenth amendment rejected, 550; ratified, 555. 

Fowler, Isaac Chapman, 786. 

Frankland, effort to establish new state, 395-419; memorial to Congress, 
392; address to freemen of Washingion county, 394; officers of new 
state elected, 399; declaration of rights, 400; charges preferred against 
Col. Campbell, 402, 400; petition to Governor Henry, 404; depositions 
pro and con taken, 414, 416; memorial of Col. Campbell, 418. 

Frederick cotmty part of Orange, 42. 

Freedmen's Bureau, 548. 

Freedom of slaves, proclaimed by Lord Dunmore, 208. 

Freeholders, 632. 

Freeholders required to vote under penalty, 209. 

Freeholders of Fincastle county, issue an address, 201, 205. 

Free negroes, permission to remain in county 90 days, 514. 



Index. 899 

French-Indian war conchided, 82. 
Friel, Dan and Manassas, 628. 
Fry, Col. Joshua, 55. 

Fulkerson, Abram and Thomas, 476, 762; security for defendant in suit, 
373 ; Col. Samuel V., 522. 

Fulton, Andrew, 758; Hugh, runs line between Washington and Mont- 
gomery counties, 372; John H., 757. 
Furnaces, operated in county, 408. 

G. 

Gage, General, ordered to send troops to Boston, 178. 

Gates, Gen., 337. 

Gates, Sir Thomas, 15. 

General Assembly, members of, 779, 791, 817, 819. 

Georgia, militia of, 236. 

Gibson, James K., 700. 

C4ibson, John, commissioned captain in Army, 457; dissolution of partner- 
ship, 458 ; John, 782. 

Gilbert, Joseph, scout, 436. 

Gist, Christopher, 47, 55; Nathaniel, Indian trader, 76, 83, 241, 247, 617. 

Glade Spring, 6S9, 091. 

Glade Hollow fort, 287; capture of prevented by man named White- 
sides, 288. 

Golden Horseshoe, order of and motto, 39. 

Gooch, William, 41, 42. 

Goodpa-sture, 269, 291. 

Goodson, Samuel E., 480, 482. 

Governor and council, instructions to commander of army against 
Cherokees, 245. 

Governors, 706, 768. 

Grafton, Duke of, 180. 

Graham, George, 785. 

Graham, Joseph J., 779. 

Grant, Robrt E., 782. 

Grants of land, to enfranchise new voters, 484. 

Granville, Earl, 55. 

Great Bridge, battle in which British troops meet great disaster, 208. 

Great Lick, 48. 

Greendale, 693. 

Greene, Gen., 348, 357. 

Green, Virginia, tried for murder and transported, 505. 

Green, Mrs., rescued by Capt. Paul 81. 

Greenway, John, 629. 

Greer, Andrew, 218. 



900 Index. 

Greever, Hiram A., 780. 

Greever, James S., 780. 

Greenville, George, Premier of England, 163. 

Gubernatorial, election 1850, 492. 

Guilford Courthouse, battle of, 353. 

H. 
Hamblin, 365, 367. 

Hancock, John, succeeds Randolph as President of Congress, 206. 
Hanging, man, 386. 

Hanover Presbytery, petition to General Assembly, 119. 
Harlin, Alex, 243. 
Harman, Adam, 44. 
Harman, Henry, 380, 382, 385. 
Harnett, Hon. Cornelius, 240. 
Harrison, 188, 201, 486. 
Harrod, Col. James, 147. 
Haynes, Col. L. C, 499. 
Hazel , Patch, 434. 
Henderson, Richard, 278. 
Henry, Patrick, 17, 171, 172, 181, 188, 191, 201, 204, 207, 208, 404, 408; 

resolutions against Stamp Act, 172. 
Herbert, Capt. Wm., 150. 
Hessians, employed against colonies, 209. 
High Court of Chancery, 598. 
Hillsborough, Secretary of Colonies, 177. 
Hite, Joist, 41, 42. 
Hogg, Peter, 81. 
Hogoheegee river, 44 
Holston, Stephen, 46, 53. 
Hopkins, Francis and William, 275, 277. 
Hopkins, Geo. W., 482. 
Hopkins, Wan-en M., 528. 
House of Commons, 176, 177, 183. 
House of Delegates, 249, 252, 388. 
House of Lords, 183, 199, 201. 
Houston, William, 272. 
Howe, Gen., 209. 
Huff, A. J., 790. 
Hughes, Judge Robert W., 794. 
Humboldt, 9. 
Humes, John N., 479. 
Hunting, 127, 129. 

Hutchison, Governor, compelled to remove soldiers, 181. 
Hutton, Francis B., 772. 
Hutson, Eleanor, pensioned by Virginia Legislature, 295. 



Index. 901 

I. 

Illinois county, 286, 287, 295. 

Indebtedness of Washington county, 533. 

Independence, Declaration of, 213, 216. 

Indians, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 83, 102, 110, 143, 217, 242; Wilderness road, 282- 
285; Thousand led by John Watts, 431; Peniberton raid, 424; Lexing- 
ton road, 439-440; expedition of Vincent Hobbs, 441, 443; Cherokees, 
31; Shawnpse, 32, 33; trails, 27, 28, 29, 33, 76. 

Inglis, :Mary, 362, 367; Inglis, Mrs., 57, 362; Tliomas, 44, 361, 302; Wil- 
liam, 362. 

J. 
Jack, Major, 236. 
Jackson, Andrew, 475. 
Jackson, Gen. T. J., 517, 573. 

Jail for Washington county, 446; destroyed by Federal troops, 481. 
James river, 12. 
Jamestown, 12. 
Jefferson, Peter, 51. 
JeflFerson, Thomas, 181, 204, 212, 251, 252, 290, 337, 338, 340. 342; estimate 

of importance of battle of King's Mountain, 340; orders expedition 

against Cherokees, 342. 
Jennings, Chas. H., 789. 

Jim and Jerry, negroes, hanged for murder, 523. 
Johnson, Andrew, 550. 
Johnson, Joseph, 34, 426, 493. 
Johnson, Sir Wm., 84. 
Johnston, Beverlj^ R., 645. 
Johnston, Chas. C, 474, 475, 757. 
Johnston, John Preston, 644. 
Johnston, John W., 765. 
Johnston, Judge Peter, 768. 
Johnston, Peter C, 643. 
Jones, Gen. Wm. E., 644. 
Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker, 796, 809. 
Judd's Friend, Prince of Chota, 73. 
Judges, of county and circuits courts, 768, 774. 
Judiciary, 592. 
Justices of Supreme Court of U. S., 849, 850. 

K. 

Kellar, Col. John, 478, 481. 

Kelly, John A., 555, 771. 

Kelly, .lonas S., 786. 

Kendrick, E. S., 788. 

Kentucky, part of Fincastle county, 253. 



i)02 Index. 

Kentucky, land law enacted by Virginia, 283. 

Keys, James, 476. 

Killed, list of from 1754 to 1757, 58-60. 

Kilmackronan, 22. 

Kinkead, John, 272, 280, 285, 301, 375, 396. 

King, Geo. I., 18, 58. 

King, James I., 12. 

King, James, 751. 

King, William, 443, 446, 493, 585, 038, 793. 

King's Mountain, 304, 334, 335; losses in British army, 326, 327; losses in 

Virginia troops, 327 ; losses of mountain men, 336. 
Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, 18, 38, 39. 
Knox, Col. James, 114. 
Kreger, John G., 530. 
Ku-Klux-Klan, 555, 556. 

L. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 358. 

Lane, Sir Ralph, 11. 

Latham, Edward, 478. 

Lawyers of Abingdon bar in 1851, 480. 

Lead Mines destroyed, 544. 

Lebo, Isaac, tried .and convicted of treason, 289. 

Lee, Col. Henry, 357. 

Lee, Richard Heniy, 212. 

Legislature of Virginia, appoint day of tasting and prayer, 185. 

Leonard, Henry, 44. 

Letter in regard to controversy in regard to Mississippi river, 420, 421. 

Lewis, Andrew, 149, 429. 

Lewis, 41, 42," 51, 97, 102, 152, 56, 60, 68, 153, 154, 236, 237, 240, 241, 348, 

349, 369, 370; Col. Charles, 149; Major, 68. 
Lexington, conflict between British and Colonial troops, 204. 
Lincoln's Proclamation, emancipates slaves, 524. 
Livingston, Wm., Todd, and Peter, 439, 440. 
Loehaber, treaty with Lidians, 111, 114. 
Lockhart, Major, 364. 
Logan, Indian chief, 144, 145; Samuel, resolutions of court on death, 510; 

William Shaw, 477. 
London Company, 12. 
Long Hunters, 50. 
Long Island, purchased from Indians, 83 ; battle of, 224-227, 245, 263, 270, 

278, 348, 365, 380, 388, 620. 
Longley, Seldon, 785. 
Lowry, Roljert E., 477. 
Loyal Company, 47, 48, 51, 52, 266. 
Lucky, Seth J., 504. 



Index. . 903 

Lu.sk, Samuel, scout, 436. 
Lutheran Church, ministers, 840. 
Lynch, Capt. Charles, 293; Jacob, 782. 

M. 

McCaulay, 117. 

IManiifacturers, British, boycotted by merchants and citizens, 177. 

Marsli, murdered Indian doctor, Gates, 483. 

JIarshall, Gen. Humphrej^, 528; James W., 763. 

Martha Washington College, 508, 015. 

Martin, Elbert S., 759; Joseph, 278, 749. 

Martin's Fort, 84. 

Masonic Lodge organized, 445; resolutions on death of Washington, 440, 

548, 565, 032. 
Massacre in 1622, 16. 
Massachusetts, in open rebellion, 178; legislature dissolved by Gover- 

. nor, 188. 
Maxwell, James, 362. 
]\IcChesn€y, Thomas, 479. 
jSIcChmg, C. H., 790. 
McCulloch, John, 479; Col. Thomas, 478. 
McDaniel, Wm., 523-525. 
McDonald, Angus, 149. 

McGillivary, Alexander, incites Indians to war, 421. 
3IcKenzie, Margaret, 144. 
McMiillen, Fayette, 482, 489, 490, 759. 
Members of Congress, 816. 
jMembers of House of Delegates, 817-819. 
Members of State Senate, 819. 
^Memorial and petition to Governor, 437, 438. 
:Mendota, 091. 

Methodism, 613, 616. " f 

Methodist Episcopal Church, ministers, 844. 
]\Iethodist Protestant Church, ministers, 845. 
Mexican war, enlistment of recruits, 487, 488. 

:Militia ofiicers of Washington county, 261. 202, 302. 303, 853, 855. 
?ililler, Joseph, 477. 
IVIines, New River Lead, 09. 
Minnick, Peter, 477. 
^Missionary Baptist, 846. 
Mississippi river, lands first settled, 101 ; right to investigate claim by 

Spain, 420. 
Mitchell, John D., 647, 648. 
:\Ion'et. Capt. John, 480. 
Moffett, Capt. Bobert, 301. 



904 . Index. 

Mongle, Jacob and Abram, 427. 

Montgomery, Capt. James, 79, SO, 134, 220, 230, 256, 274, 285, 375, 576, 

402; county, 134, 253, 254, 277, 292, 293, 337, 349. 350, 363, 364, 371, 

372, 388. 
Moore, Andrew, 755; James, of Abb's Valley. 382, 385; Samuel, 479. 
Morgan, Gen. John H., 533, 534. 
Mort, J. W., 791. 
Mosby, John S., 510. 
Mount, George, 39; Spottswood, 39. 
Mullens, Jacob, 532. 

N. 
Neff, George E., 777. 
Natural Bridge and Tunnel, 583, 584. 
Neece, Ann and Henry, 367, 368. 
Xcwell, Saniuel, killed and scalped, 246. 
Newfoundland, 10. 
Newland, Isaac, 427, 429. 
Newport, Capt. Christopher, 12. 
New River, settlers, wiped out of existence, 57. 

Newspaper, 587, 59i ; first in Washington county, 447. 

Nordyke, Abram, 479. 

Norfolk and Great Western railroad, 556. 

N. Carolina, militia of, 236. 

North, Lord, 180. 

Northmen, 9. 

Norton, Col., 356. 

Number of warriors, 235. 

O. 

Oath of allegiance to Commonwealth, 274; of a justice, 138. 
Oconostata, 73, 74, 223. 
Officers in militia regiments, 549. 
Ogden, Elias, 643. 

Ohio Valley, French expelled, 69; expulsion disastrous to western settle- 
ments, 70. 
Orange county, 19, 39, 42. 
Orders of Court, 303, 371, 372, 373. 
Orr, James, 493. 
Oseher, Simon, 367, 368. 
Overton, Capt. Samuel, 61, 68. 

P. 

Page, Reuben M., 555, 773. 
Patton, Col. James, 43. 
Pattonbiirg, town founded, 43. 



Index. 905 

Pearls, Richard, GO. 

Pemberton, Richard, 424, 425. 

People's Address, 201, 203. 

Percy, Sir George, 14. 

Peters, William E.. 53, 779. 

Petitioners for compensation, 247. 

Pickens, Col., 351. 

Pierpoint, Gov., 546, 548, 554. 

Pitt, William, 174, 176, 183, 185, 199, 201. 

Pocahontas, 13. 

Point Pleasant, battle of, 151, 153; report of battle from Belfast, 151. 

Police county for protection of citizens, 515. 

Polk, James K., 486. 

Population of Va., 851. 

Port bill, order of Legislature of Va., 479. 

Port duties, repealed by Parliament, 159. 

Poston, Hatch D., 479. 

Powder removed from Williamsburg, 204. 

Powell's Valley, 365. 

Powhatan, 13. 

Presbyterian Church, 119; ministers, 844-845. 

Presbyterianism in \Vashington county, 601-613; Ebbing Spring church, 
608; Green Spring church, 613; Maple Grove church, 612; Rock Spring 
church, 610; Spring Creek church, 612; Sinking Spring church, 607; 
Walnut Grove church, 613. 

Presidential elections, 452, 453 484, 485, 489. 

Preston, Dr. A. R., 512, 783; Francis, 477, 755; election to Congress con- 
tested, 430; Mrs. James W^, 76, 269; John, 429, 431, 432, 452, 476, 
478, 792; Col. John M., 489, 643, 645; Robert, 131, 266, 267, 370, 458, 
631; Tlios. L., 503, 586, 647; Walter, 519, 522, 759; William, 57, 61, 
67, 108, 130, 242, -348; Col. W^ni., 78, 83, 146, 147, 201, 222, 247, 292, 
337, 350, 352, 363, 751; Wm. Ballard, 503, 506; Wm. C, 119, 339. 
Price, John W., 790. 
Pridemore, A. L., 761. 

Prisoners tried for crimes committed before battle, 332. 
Proclamation of Peace, 1815, 463. 
Proter'tant Episcopal Church, ministers, 845. 
Provincial Assembly, convened at Albany, 162. 
Public roads, ortlers relating thereto, 468. 
Pulilic Thanksgiving, 374, 375. 

Q. 
Qualifications of voters, 158, 159 

Qiieljec, address of Congress to French Colonists, 199. 
Queen Elizabeth, 11. 
Quirk, Capt. Thos., counterfeit money delivered to slieriff, 287. 



900 Index. 

R. 

Radical Convention, 1869, 553, 554. 

Railroad, Lynchburg & Tenn., 480; Norfolk & Western, 556; Va. & South- 
western, 514; Va. & Tenn. incorporated, 495; meetings held in further- 
ance thereof, 495-505. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 11. 

Rambo, Andrew F., 788. 

Randolph, Beverly, 69. 

Randolph, Edmund, 260. 

Randolph, Peter, 67. 

Randolph, Peyton, 188, 191, 201, 206. 

Rangers, organized, 66. 

Raven of Chichamogga, 249, 387. 

Ray, Joseph, 367. 

Recommendations to Governor for protection, 423. 

Reconstruction, 1865-1870, 545. 

Records of county 1821-1837 burned, 468; facts of this period taken from 
Acts of Assembly, 468-475. 

Redd, Capt. John, 234. 

Redd, Nathan, 219. 

Reform Church, ministers, 846. 

Registration of voters, 550, 551. 

Regulators, 115. 

Pi.egulators organized, 277. 

Religious liberty, 119. 

Requisition of Gfovernor for slaves, 528, 529. 

Resolutions by Dabney Carr adopted unanimously, 181 ; adopted by mem- 
bers of the House, 186; of committee of Fincastle county, 205. 

Resolutions of Va. Representatives, 188. 

Revolution, American, 160. 

Rhea, William, 477. ■'- 

Rhea, Wm. F., 764. 

Richmond. 13, 3.58. 

Richmond, James B., 761. 

Rich Moiuitain, battle betwen Cherokees and Shawnese, 26. 

Roark's Gap, 28. 

Roberts, E. L., 781. 

Roberts, John, 789. 

Robertson, chief justice of Kentucky, comment on land law enacted for 
Kentucky, 281, 282. 

Robertson, Wyndham, 766. 

Roads. 41, 110, 132, 275, 272, 

Roanoke Island, 11. 

Roark's Gap, scene of massacre, 425. 

Rockingham, Marquis of, 179. 



Index. 907 

Rowan, John L., 778. 

Rowland, Capt. Thomas, roll of company, 233, 234. 
Royal proclamation against whites, 81. 
Royal Oak, 84. 

Russell, county, court and officrs, 388-390. 
Russell, Elizabeth, 614. 

Russell, \\\n., 150; member of Williamsburg convention, 209; movements, 
arrived Long Island, 242, 243. 

S. 

Sailings, 39, 40. 

Salt Lake Mountain, 48. 

Saltville, battle of, 534, 544; valley, 584-587. 

Saltworks, branch of railroad, 510. 

Sam, a slave, burnt in hand and whipped, 467. 

Sandy river expedition, 60-60. 

Sayers, Robert, 293. 

Schofield, Gen., 551, 554. 

Schools for colored children, 548. 

Schuyler, Philip, 206. 

Scotch-Irish, 117. 

Scott, Archibald. 376-379. «-" 

Scott, Gen. Winfield, 463; county named for Gen. Scott, 464, 465; otBeers 
of county, 426, 466. 

Seal of Virginia, 212. 

Secession, conventions, 512, 514; vote of Washington county for dele- 
gates, 512. 

Settlements on Ohio and Mississippi, claimed by France, 47. 

Sevier, Col. John, 243, 244, 348, 360, 398. 

Shawnese Indians, contest with Cherokees, 26, 30, 31. 

Shawnese, history of, 32, 33 ; raid on present location of Tazewell, 380. 

Sheffey, Daniel, 462, 756 ; John P., 772. 

Shelby, Col. Evan, 150, 229, 247, 203, 279, 289, 294, 295, 672, 673; Col. 
Isaac, 150, 153, 155, 274, 298, 380. 

Shellabarger, bill, 550. 

Sheriffs, refuse to give security for collection of taxes, 375. 

Sinclair, Chas., 46. 

Sinking Spring church, call to Rev. Chas. Cummings, 139. 

Six Nations, 25, 93, 148; other tribes conquered, 24; conquer and over- 
come vast territory, 89. 

Slavery, beginning in America, 15. 

Slemp, Campbell, 765. 

Smith, Campbell, hanged, 505, 506; Capt. Francis. 476; Capt. John, 13; 
Lewis and Tobias, 477; young Englishman, describes coimtry, 93-97;" 
General, 452. 4.59, 473, 474, 756. 



908 Index. 

Snodgrass, L. H., 787. 

S. Carolina, militia of, 236. 

Southwest Virginia, early exploration of, 34-54; between Southern and 

Northern tribes, 27. 
Spain, Queen of, 20. 
Spottswood, Alexander, 17, 38, 39. 
Spottsylvania, 39. 
Stalnaker, Samuel. 46. 
Stamp Act, bill for repeal passed, 176. 
Stamp duties, imposition of, 163. 
State divided into ten congressional districts, 425. 
Staunton river, 49. 
Steele, Chas W., 781. 
Steele, Miss, captured by Indians, 103. 
Stephens, Col. succeeds Col. Byrd, 72. 
Stoneman, Gen., 541.^-^' 
Stonewall Jackson Institute, 571-575. 
Stragglers and deserters, 529. 
Stuart, Gapt., at surrender of Fort Loudon, 72; terms of capitulation, 73; 

Henry dep. Superintendent of Indian affairs, 220; John, treaty with 

Cherokees, 90, 92, 110, 114. 
Sullivan county established by North Carolina legislature, 300. 
Summers, Geo. W., 493. ^ 
Summers, John C, 776. — 
Superior Court of Laws, 598. 
Surveyors record of Fineastle county, 808-816. 
Surveys on Holston and Clinch, 44. 
Sussex county, 39. 
Sycamore Shoals, army of, 308, 314. 

T. 

Tadlock, J. D., 683. 

Taliquo, Indian town, 73. 

Tarleton, 350, 354, 356, 358. 

Tate, Thomas M., 775. 

Tax on tea retained, 180. 

Taylor, Hancock, 147, 148; Major James, 479; Major John, 116, 363; 

Zachary, 489. 
Tazewell county. Indian atrocities in, 385, 386. 
Tea destroyed in Boston harbor, 183. 
Tecumseh, 32. 
Telieo, 244. 

Tennessee, admitted in 1796, 709. 
Territorial Government, effort to establish, 550. 
Terry, William, 760. 



Index. 909 

Test, oath, rtquired of all citizens, 219. 

Thomas, Benj., 385; Isaac, rewarded for services, 219, 243, 247. 

Thompson, Charl«s, 191, 20G ; Hugh, 42; James, 104, 109, 131, 135, 237, 

402; William, 83. 
Thompson's Valley, 157. 
Tinkling Spring, 139. 

Tithables, commissioned to take lists, 258. 
Tomney, W. H., 789. 
Toquo, 243. 

Tories and British spies, 272, 277, 292, 293, 366, 421. 
To\™send, speech in House of Commons, 170. 
Ti'ade. board of, bill of parliament to appoint, 177. 
Trails, Indian, 27, 28. 29, 33, 70. 
Transalleghany, pioneers, 35. 
Treaty with Indians, 67, 85, 90, 92, 110, 114, 247, 248; between France and 

England, 79. 
Tree, inscription by Boone, 76. 

Trials of Americans, to be conducted in England, 178. 
Trigg. Abram, 756; Connally F., 763, 774; Daniel, 787. 
Troops and officers of Washington county, 517. 
Troops of States in Revolutionary war, 865. 
Tryon, Geo., 115. 
Tuckasee, 365. 

Turnpikes, Abingdon and Saltville, 447 ; Southwestern, 506, 509. 
Turtle tribe, 32. 

U. 
Union, 257, 340, 510; Camp, 150, 154. 
United Colonies, 338, 373, 374, 391. 
United States, 29, 33, 277, 292, 337, 421. 
Ustick. John G., 447, 587, 634. 
Universalist ministers, 846. 

V. 

Valley of Virginia, exploration of. 39. 

Vann's Towns, 360. 

Van Rensselaer, 452. 

Van IMeter, 41. 

Vaughan, 40. 

Vause, Mrs., 59. 

Vause's Fort, captured by French and Indians, 57, 58, 62. 

Vice-Presidents, 849. 

Vincennes. 2SG. 

Virginia, disposes of large area of land, 695; boundary line between Va. 
and Tenn. extended, 698-746; report of Commissioners, 699, 702; reso- 
lutions of Va. Legislature, 702-703; letter of County Lieutenant to 
Governor, 703-707; report of Committee to N. Car. Legislature, 705; 



910 hidex. 

letter from Gilbert Christian, 707-708; second letter of County Lieu- 
tenant to Governor, 708; boundaries of Tenn. defined in its constitU' 
tion, 709; commissioners appointed by Va. and Tenn., 710-711; report of 
Commissioners, 711-720; Surveyor's report, 717; report of U. S. Coast 
Survey, 721, 725; suit of Va. vs. Tenn., 725; report of Commissioners 
to Supreme Court of U. S., 728; report of operation of commission of 
Supreme Court, 729, 738; decision of Supreme Court, 744-746. 
Vineland, 9. 

W. 

Waddell, Col., 72. 

Walker, Jas. A., 764. 

■VValker, Thomas, 43, 46, 48, 49, 50, 53, 82, 84, 89, 92, 97, 102, 268, 300, 
616, 621. 

Walker, agent for Loyal Land Company, 83. 

W^alker's Creek, raid on settlement, 368. 

Walker's expedition, 48-50; Gilbert C, 554. 

Wallace's Switch, 691. 

Wallen, Elisha, 76. 

War of 1812-1815, 448-461. 

War, Mexican, 487-489. 

Ward, Ai-temus, 206; David, 110, 116, 271, 301; George W., 773; Nancy, 
228, 243, 244. 

Warrior's Path, 278. 

Washington College, 284. 

Washington, George, 55, 56, 188, 201, 207, 209, 354; Martha, 626. 

Washington county, early histoiy, 254; re-districted, 556; first locality — 
named for Washington, 256; officers of county in 1850, 493; field 
officers, 363 ; divided into magisterial districts, 493 ; companies organ- 
ized and officers, 517; justices of county court, 823-829; sheriffs, 831- 
834; attorneys, 835-837; Igxj, 1777, 284; for 1775, 285; other officers 
of county, 837, 839, 841, 843; revolutionary soldiers, 855-865; militia 
officers in war of 1812, 865-866; Confederate soldiers in Civil war, 
867-881; soldiers in Spanish American war, 881-882; area curtailed by 
new survey, 300. 

Watauga, 116. 

Watkins, Claiborne, 431. 

Watts, John, leads force of hostile Indians, 431. 

Webb, William, first school-master, 557. 

Weddings, description of, 125-127. 

Wells, H. H., appointed Governor by Stoneman, 554. 

Western Wilderness, explored by Col. Byrd and others, 93. 

Whipping post, 373. 

White, 368-369; Dr., 423; James, 452, 468, 482, 483, 633; .James L., 76, 617, 
631; John, 11; Wesley, 134; Wm. Y. C, 489. 

White's Grove, Forge, 468. 



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